Rajasthan govt comes in the front line of national health spend

State comes in the front line of national health spend

The Rajasthan government will strengthen health infrastructure in the state by spending more than Rs 22,000 crore on it in 2023-24.

This is around 7.4 per cent of the Budget outlay, which is much higher than the majority of the states in the country. The average is 6 per cent for other states taken together.

The state government has opened 1,002 sub-centres in the state and 29,538 persons, including 4,498 doctors, were appointed in the past four years.

Doctors have been posted in 800 primary health centres (PHCs). The government plans to fill all posts of nurses in the next two months.

A senior official of the medical and health department said: “We are in the process of building a medical college and a nursing college in each district.”

Recently Rs 1,000 crore was approved to open medical colleges in Rajsamand, Pratapgarh, and Jalore.

He said Rajasthan had emerged as a model state in health with the state government’s schemes. 

The official said the health insurance amount for a family had been increased to Rs 25 lakh in the Mukhyamantri Chiranjeevi Swasthya Bima Yojana, a universal health insurance scheme.

The public is getting the benefit of the Chiranjeevi scheme even for treatment outside the state.

He said the state government had made almost all kinds of medical tests and medicines free.

Service at the IPD (indoor patients department) and OPD (outdoor patients department) in government hospitals is free.

From April 1, 2021, to date, around Rs 3,566 crore has been spent and around 3.43 million patients have benefited from free treatment under the Chiranjeevi scheme.