Over 8 lakh hospital beds required in NE
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy- ANI
Guwahati, July 09 2016 :
"To achieve inclusive develop-
ment, major public and private
sector investments are required
in health care in the north-east,"-
this was the key massage that
emerged from the two-day
North East Health Care Summit
organized by FICCI and PHFI
in Guwahati.
The summit was inaugu-
rated by Lal Thanzara, Minis-
ter, Health and FW, Mizoram
along with Ranjit Barthakur,
Chairman, FICCI NE Advi-
sory Council, Dr.K Srinath
Reddy, President Public
Health Foundation of India
(through VC), and Jayanto
Narayan Choudhury, vice
president PHFI, along with
state health ministers from
Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim
and Members of Parliaments
from north eastern states.
In his address the Than-
zara, congratulated the organi-
sers� FICCI and PHFI for
organising this important
summit that highlights key
issues in today's evolving
healthcare scenario pertinent
to northeastern parts of the
country.
However, he lamented that
due to lack of financial re-
sources, skilled manpower in
health, tough terrains and
quality medical colleges,
healthcare has taken a back
seat in this region.
There is an urgent need to
review the progress of sche-
mes sanctioned by centre or
the NEC towards the im-
provement of healthcare
services in the region, espe-
cially infrastructure, in
addition to finding out better
ways and means to remove
health problems and inacces-
sibility to quality healthcare
especially in rural areas of the
region.
At present, only As-
sam, Tripura and Manipur
have been able to set up their
own medical colleges, while
states like Mizoram, which
grapple with Cancer, are yet
to get any college," he said.
Thanzara also appealed to
the attending delegates and
organisations to put aside
monetary benefits and work
towards the improvement of
healthcare services in this re-
gion.
Ranjit Barthakur, chair-
man, FICCI NE Advisory
Council said, "The northeast-
ern region has the potential to
become the new growth
driver for the Indian economy
but this can happen only if
the population can function to
its full potential, unbridled by
the burden of diseases."
"Globally, an average of
2.9 beds are available per 1000
population, therefore to even
reach anywhere close to the
global average, with a
population of 45.45 million
people, the north east would
need over eight lakh additional
hospital beds" he added.
Dr. K Srinath Reddy,
President, Public Health
Foundation of India, in his
video address said, "North-
east is one of the most vibrant
regions in India, but its health
indicators have unfortunately
lagged behind rest of India on
many counts.
With so much
technological and infrastruc-
ture advancements, it is time
to bring about a rapid im-
provement in the public health
indicators, especially in light
of the renewed commitment
by the central government to-
wards speedy achievement of
universal health coverage in
the entire north-east region."
"Already active in the re-
gion through its various
capacity building and training
programmes, Public Health
Foundation of India, and its
affiliate Indian Institute of
Public Health in Shillong,
aims to improve health out-
comes in the entire Northeast
region through educational,
research, training, policy and
advocacy activities.
With a
view to complement various
state and national level health
initiatives, in this two day
summit, all stakeholders be it
policymakers, industry and
health practitioners, will come
up with a forward looking
plan to improve the health
scenario in the entire region,
and become a major
healthcare hub for entire
Southeast Asia," he added.
Over 200 delegates includ-
ing doctors from the north
eastern states, national and
regional speakers and
stakeholders representing hos-
pitals, pharmaceutical
companies, medical devices
companies and others partici-
pated in the deliberations.
The summit, which laid
major stress on making af-
fordable and accessible world
class health care available
across the region, also high-
lighted the need for taking a
holistic approach to health
care, giving equal importance
to different alternate and com-
plimentary systems of
medicine.
Health care has
emerged as one of the most
challenging sectors as well as
one of the largest service sec-
tor industries in India which
constitutes around six percent
of India's GDP and employs
over four million people.
The Indian healthcare sec-
tor is expected to become a
USD 280 billion industry by
2020 with spending on health
estimated to grow at around
14 percent annually.
Though
India is witnessing some re-
markable improvements in
healthcare across the country,
Northeastern states are still
lagging behind in meeting the
required healthcare standards.
The summit also high-
lighted the emerging
opportunities for health care
in areas like medical value
tourism and alternative and
complementary medicine,
which aimed at mainstreaming
of AYUSH (Ayurveda,
Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and
Homeopathy) systems and the
revitalization of local health
traditions (LHT) within the
policy on medical pluralism
currently being implemented
in the entire country.