More focus on comprehensive primary health care

Proposed National Health Policy has highlighted a major change in health care service delivery system. More emphasis would be put on high quality comprehensive primary health care services that would be free, universally accessible and provided as close to where people live and work. Comprehensive primary health care would mean primary care to all in reproductive and child health, communicable and non-communicable diseases. With this enhanced package they would greatly be called health and wellness centre. It has been rightly argued that quality primary health care services would reduce morbidity and mortality at much lower costs to the system and the individual than any other approach. It would reduce the need for costly stay in hospitals. It has been suggested that every family should be given a health card, which should be eligible for a well-defined package of services. This system would help in checking self-medication as well as protect the patient from unnecessary medicalisation. The health and wellness centre teams would be trained to play an important role in counseling, guiding and educating people to avert diseases. Most elements of primary care can be so designed that a nurse or paramedical with suitable training is able to provide the desired care. Several elements of the continuity of care required for chronic illness may also be provided in these centres, thus preventing overcrowding at the hospitals. For providing quality medical services use of Information and Communication Technology would be used which should be possible in the rural areas as well with the ongoing efforts to connect most villages with the broadband connectivity through optical fibre cables. This concept of health and wellness centres should be extended to all urban areas also. For secondary healthcare services the government would have to upgrade all district level government hospitals to the medical college level hospitals. An efficient emergency transport system would also be needed to connect health and wellness centres to these district hospitals where all diagnostic services and medicines can be provided for free. These hospitals would work on a pre-paid system like health insurance.
(Note: The article was first published in the Lokayat magazine:April, 2015)