Telangana govt grants Rs 10 cr for Institute of Public Health's new campus

Phase-I of the project comprises academic and hostel blocks and the South Asia Centre for Disability Inclusive Development and Research

Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao today announced a Rs 10-crore financial grant for the works on the southern regional campus of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), which is coming up here.

“My government will make available an immediate financial grant of Rs 10 crore for the construction of the campus here. At the shortest possible time, we will also call the officials of PHFI to finalise the possible administrative and financial assistance from the state government,” he said.

The chief minister, who performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the academic campus on Tuesday, said the government was actively considering PHFI’s request for sharing 50 per cent of the estimated Phase-I cost of Rs 60 crore for the campus facility.      

The Phase-I of the project, which comprises academic and hostel blocks and the South Asia Centre for Disability Inclusive Development and Research, will be completed in the next two years, said PHFI president K Srinath Reddy.

The chief minister, in his address, called for PHFI to play a key role in improving healthcare delivery by providing training in all disciplines of public health, besides assisting in skill development of paramedical personnel and health auxiliaries in the state.    

Meanwhile, PHFI said that it will provide training to 500 government primary healthcare centres (PHCs) by improving the design and delivery of health programmes in the state.  

Speaking on the poor healthcare delivery in the state, the chief minister said despite spending Rs 5,000 crore annually on healthcare, the “outcomes had been poor” and said that the government would work jointly with PHFI in providing management training to doctors in the state-run multi-specialty hospitals.

Also present at the event, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy, who is the chairman of leadership council of PHFI, said investments in healthcare would assure inclusive growth, and added that the Telangana government should make providing quality healthcare its prime objective.