AYUSHMAN BHARAT - HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE MISSION – GOVERNMENT SCHEME
News:
Govt to borrow ₹13,879 cr. to strengthen health infra from international
agencies
What's in the news?
● The
Health Ministry has signed loan agreements with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for $300 million (₹2,474 crore) and
with Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) for 50 billion Japanese Yen (₹3,162 crore).
● In
addition, the World Bank has
approved $1 billion (₹8,243 crore) IBRD loans for Pradhan Mantri Ayushman
Bharat Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM).
○ IBRD
is the lending arm of the World Bank.
Key takeaways:
● The
loan agreements have been signed to augment PM-ABHIM which was launched on
October 25, 2021, with an outlay of about ₹64,180 crore (till FY 2025-26) to
strengthen healthcare infrastructure across the country.
Ayushman Bharat - Health Infrastructure Mission:
● AB-HIM
is being rolled out as India’s largest scheme to scale up health
infrastructure.
● The
PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission consists of Centrally Sponsored Scheme components
and some Central Sector components.
Aim:
● It
is aimed at ensuring a robust public
health infrastructure in both urban and rural areas, capable of responding
to public health emergencies or disease outbreaks.
Period:
5 years (2021-22 to 2025-26).
Objectives:
● The
mission’s objective is to “fill critical
gaps in public health infrastructure, especially in critical care
facilities and primary care, in both the urban and rural areas”.
● The
PM ABHIM also aims to establish an IT-enabled
disease surveillance system through a network of surveillance laboratories
at block, district, regional and national levels.
● The
scheme also aims to detect, investigate, prevent, and combat public health
emergencies and disease outbreaks.
Components of the Mission:
1. Comprehensive surveillance of infectious diseases:
● Under
this, health and wellness centers will be opened in villages and cities, where
there will be facilities for the early detection of diseases.
● It
provides support for construction of 17,788
Rural Health and Wellness Centers.
● Establishment
of 11,024 Urban Health and Wellness Centers.
● Facilities
such as free medical consultation, tests, and medicine will be available at
these centers.
2. Comprehensive diagnostics and treatment facilities:
● This
will involve the development of testing infrastructure.
● All
730 districts of the country will get Integrated
Public Health Labs.
● All
3,382 blocks will get Public Health
Units.
● Five
centers for disease control, 20 metropolitan units, and 15 BSL labs will strengthen
this network.
3. Comprehensive pandemic research:
● The
existing 80 viral diagnostic and
research labs will be strengthened, four new National Institutes of Virology (NIVs) and a National Institute for One
Health are being established.
4. Institutional mechanism:
● Laboratory
capacity under the National Centre for
Disease Control, the Indian Council of Medical Research and national
research institutions will be strengthened.
● Fifteen bio-safety level
III labs will augment the capacity for infectious
disease control and bio-security.