Aid for C-section hiked to Rs 5,000 in Andhra Pradesh, Aarogyasri may cover more ailments

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed officials to provide a maternity aid of Rs 5,000 to women under the Arogya Asara scheme whether it is a normal delivery or a Cesarean-section.

At present, maternity benefit of only Rs 3,000 is being paid to women undergoing Cesarean-section, to encourage normal deliveries. Speaking at a review meeting on medical and health on Monday, the Chief Minister underlined the need for encouraging normal deliveries by promoting awareness among pregnant women.

He also stressed the need for bringing more health procedures under the purview of Aarogyasri scheme. The officials informed him that 2,446 procedures have been covered under Aarogyasri  and Rs 270 crore is being spent on implementation of the scheme per month.

Emphasising the need for implementing Aarogyasri in a more transparent manner, Jagan said the amount should be credited to the beneficiaries' bank accounts and from there the remittance to the hospital should be done in auto debit mode without causing any inconvenience to anyone.

He directed the officials to take measures to ensure that the entire process runs smooth.

Mentioning the rise in incidence of cancer in the State, the Chief Minister instructed the officials to focus on diagnosis of cancer at the village level by strengthening Primary Health Centres, village and ward clinics.

The family doctor concept should be launched by making necessary arrangements by December, which will make cancer detection easy.

All the 27 medical colleges, including 16 new ones coming up in the State, should have two Linac machines to treat cancer cases. It has also been proposed to set up a Centre of Excellence for Cancer Prevention in medical colleges in Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Guntur, he said.

Jagan said the officials should complete the construction of village and ward clinics and new hospitals within the deadline. The officials informed him that restoration works have been completed in 977 PHCs, village and ward clinics. The construction of new clinics is also nearing completion.

Jagan was told that admission process could commence in new medical colleges in Vizianagaram, Rajahmundry, Eluru and Machilipatnam from 2023.Health Minister Vidadala Rajini, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Principal  Secretary (Medical & Health) MT Krishna Babu, Medical and Health Principal Secretary (Covid Management & Vaccination) Muddada Ravichandra and other senior officials attended the meeting.