Telangana makes major strides in healthcare

The slew of developmental measures taken by Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao to improve public healthcare system has propelled Telangana amongst top three performing States in the country.

Hyderabad: In a span of just eight years, Telangana, the youngest Indian state, has emerged amongst the best performers in healthcare sector by consistently improving on its key health indicators.

The slew of developmental measures taken by Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao to improve public healthcare system has propelled Telangana amongst top three performing States in the country.

---

One of the major achievements for Telangana in the health sector has been its incremental improvements in key health indicators including Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Under5Mortality Rate (U5MR).

Over the years, the initiatives aimed at improving Mother and Child Health (MCH) has been the cornerstone of the State government’s efforts to improve IMR and MMR. The KCR Kits initiative along with financial benefit played a significant role in improvement of maternal health, apart from boosting institutional deliveries.

Despite three successive waves of Covid infections, Telangana government has ensured upgrading of medical infrastructure is taken up at a brisk pace, which was never witnessed in the region before statehood. Steady allocation of funds has ensured that new medical colleges and super-speciality hospitals are in course for inauguration, despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Before statehood, Telangana region had four medical colleges with a capacity of 700 MBBS seats. Following statehood, Telangana government adopted expansion of medical education in a phase-wise manner. In the first phase, four medical colleges were added in Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Suryapet and Siddipet which have been operational for the past four-years and the overall number of MBBS seats in the State increased to 1640.

In the second phase, the State government established eight more medical colleges at Sangareddy, Mahabubabad, Mancherial, Jagtial, Wanaparthy, Kothagudem, Nagarkurnool and Ramagundam which are expected to start functioning from this academic year i.e. 2022-2023.

Apart from focussing on infrastructure development, the State government has made efforts to take up required recruitment. It already accorded permission to Medical Health Services Recruitment Board and Telangana State Public Services Commission to recruit 12,755 Direct Recruitment vacancies.

Key Health Indicators (Mother and Child Health) in TS:

1. Before statehood, MMR was 92 and after statehood it is 56.

2. IMR came down from 39 to 21.

3. Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) improved from 41 to 30

4. Neonatal mortality rate (NMR) improved from 25 to 17.

5. NITI Aayog ranks Telangana third after Kerala and Tamil Nadu for best healthcare

KCR Kits and Maternal Health:

1. 13,29,951 beneficiaries since 2017.

2. Rs.1,176 crore transferred to beneficiaries’ accounts through DBT.

3. 97 % deliveries are institutional deliveries

4. 60 % of deliveries in Telangana are in public healthcare institutions

5. 41 lakh pregnant women transported through 102 referral transport.

6. Vaccination coverage among children is 99 %

7. 35 Special New Born Care Units (SNCUs) established

Basthi Dawakhanas:

* 259 Basti Dawakhanas are functional in GHMC.

* 195 types of drugs and 57 types of lab tests available in Basti Dawakhanas

* Free diagnostic services available

* 13 more labs are being established

* 4 lakh samples tested monthly

Important points:

1. Eight new medical colleges to start from this year

2. Permissions secured for medical colleges in Jagtiyal, Nagarkurnool, Sangareddy and Wanaparthy districts

3. NMC permissions expected in Mahabubabad, Mancherial, Kothagudem and Ramagundam

4. Nearly 1200 seats will be added to the existing total of 1700 government MBBS seats

5. There are nearly 3, 500 MBBS seats offered by private teaching hospitals in Telangana

6. Next academic year, eight more medical colleges to be established with a cost of Rs. 1479 crore

7. Medical colleges in Rajanna Sircilla, Vikarabad, Khammam, Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Asifabad and Jangaon will be established