Union Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi has blamed bureaucratic hurdles within his own ministry for the delay in fulfilling the railway ministry's ambitious plan to set up healthcare facilities along the rail network across the country.
Six months after the rail ministry signed an agreement with the health ministry to allow the latter to develop healthcare facilities on railway land, nothing has happened from the health ministry side, Trivedi admitted.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry event on the launch of 'India Health Report 2010' here, the minister said there was no reason for any delay in implementation of this project, as the location and land had been finalised by the railway ministry.
"They are ready to hand over the locations to us. It is the health ministry that has not responded at all," Trivedi said. He added that the lack of response was in spite of his senior minister's (Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad) interest in the project.
The railways had in January entered into an agreement with the health ministry to set up diagnostic centres, super-speciality hospitals, medical colleges and nursing schools across the country.
The idea was to utilise the vast tracts of land owned by the railways to create healthcare facilities.
While the railways were supposed to provide the land, the infrastructure development was the health ministry's responsibility. State governments and private sector entities were supposed to invest in the project.
Public health funding
India's public health funding is likely to see a gradual shift towards preventive care as compared to the current focus on creation of healthcare infrastructure for disease treatment.
The change in focus will turn more visible once the government's plan to create an all-India cadre of Public Health Service officers materialize, experts say. The importance of the rural doctors - the specialized tribe of rural physicians that is being envisaged - was also highlighted.
Speaking at the launch of India Health Report 2010, healthcare experts said here today that the hospital-centric healthcare development agenda will move towards more holistic health promotion programmes. Dinesh Trivedi, Minister of State for Health, said his ministry is planning to set up a team of experts to suggest practical solutions to all public health challenges that are facing India.
