GS 2: Governance | Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors

Why in News?

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for continuation of implementation of the following Tertiary healthcare programmes for non-communicable diseases and E-Health upto 2020.

Objectives:

Objective of the umbrella program of tertiary healthcare is to provide support for creation of tertiary care health facilities in the areas of cancer diagnosis & treatment, care for the elderly, trauma and burn injuries, drug dependence, mental health and blindness & visual impairment. It also aims at digitisation of health sector.
• Strengthening of Tertiary Care Cancer facilities Scheme
• National Program for Health Care of the Elderly
• National Program for Prevention & Management of Trauma and Burn Injuries
• National Program for Tobacco Control and Drug Addiction Treatment
• National Mental Health Program
• National Program for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment
• Program for Strengthening of e-Health and Telemedicine Services

Impact:

• The focus under these Programs is:-
• to create required infrastructure at tertiary level for these Programs,
• creation of Centre of Excellences which shall serve as Institutes to set standards and undertake research in these fields besides
• To help in creation of trained manpower in these Programs for the country.

Benefits:

Under these programmes, Tertiary care treatment will be further strengthened to meet the ever-increasing patient load.

Employment Generation:

The Programs are aimed at strengthening of tertiary level healthcare facilities for treatment through capacity building in terms of both infrastructure and human resources. There would be considerable direct and indirect employment generation both for technical and non-technical professionals in the country.