So far, 3.85 lakh cards made available in the state
Panaji: Health secretary Arun Kumar Mishra on Wednesday announced that all Goans will be registered for the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) by June this year.
Addressing mediapersons over the concluding ‘G20 health track visit’, Mishra said the state has so far generated 3.85 lakh ABHA cards, which is about 25% of the total population, and is trying to achieve 100% registration by June this year.
Health services director Dr. Geeta Kakodkar and officer on special duty (health) for G20 meetings Dr. Kedar Raikar were also present on the occasion.
The health secretary said the ABHA mobile application has smoothened the path to medical facilities at primary health centres, adding that the government wants to help the beneficiaries who are not technologically savvy.
The ABHA health identity card is an initiative of the central government under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission for establishing a centralised database of health-related details of all citizens, which are also self-generated through a simplified process.
As part of the eight G20 meetings to be held in Goa starting this month, two ministerial and six other meetings will be held in the state in the next four months.
The second health working group meeting of G20 will be held from April 17-19 in Goa at a Bambolim hotel, which will be attended by international health officials and other delegates.
On the second day of the health track visit, mediapersons were taken to the primary health centre (PHC) in Aldona, where Dr. Abhish Naik of the E-Sanjivani OPD briefed them about the services provided to patients.
They were also apprised of community centric programmes of the PHC.
Shikhar Shrivastava, the head of public health initiative ‘Tricog’, explained to the mediapersons the step on STEMI at the centre.
“We are grateful to the state of Goa for identifying STEMI as a critical focus area and launching the Goa STEMI programme in December 2018. With this initiative, Goa is the first state in the country to use an AI-aided, digital system for STEMI management to combat the problem of premature mortality due to STEMI,” he said.
The mediapersons were also taken to the Moira village panchayat, where they were explained about an immunisation drive.
On Tuesday, mediapersons were taken to the PHCs at Corlim and Dharbandora.