New Delhi: Speaking at the NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth India’s 12-Hour Lakshya – Sampoorn Swasthya Ka telethon, which was held on October 2, Chief Minister of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde said the government has prioritised healthcare in the state. Joining the panel discussion with NDTV’s Doctor Prannoy Roy and Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, Mr Shinde explained how the state of Maharashtra has ensure health for all over the years.
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Here are five important things he said on the telethon:
- Our government has prioritized health, like the initiative of central government Swasth Bharat Abhiyan. The state of Maharashtra has strengthened Public Healthcare Centre and ensured better services to all. Taking the vision of focusing on healthcare of Prime minister Narendra Modi ahead, the state of Maharashtra has also ensured that primary healthcare reach the last mile.
- Our government is a government for common people, therefore, we want to ensure, we serve each and everyone. To upgrade the services in the state, we will focus on doubling the budget for health in the coming years.
- There is a shortage of nurses and doctors in our country and Maharashtra is no different. To tackle this in the state, we are building medical colleges to get more and more doctors/nurses and fix this gap. We have also told the district collectors to increase the number of Doctors in each of the districts and ensure enough healthcare staff is available to take care the health of the people.
- The government of Maharashtra is also looking at infrastructure and setting up facilities to ensure there is no gap in the healthcare system or shortages and the primary healthcare is reaching each and everyone.
- We have only 2.5 years and it is like playing a 20-20. We are hoping to get the budget doubled in that period and ensure we have an affordable treatment and stronger healthcare system. We won’t do the Delhi model of Mohalla clinic, but will start Apla Dawakhana that will help give treatment to people in the slums, small areas in around 700 places in the state. The Apla Dawakhana will initially have around 139 free tests and slowly we will scale it up with the help of the people.
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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
