DoNER Ministry to take up initiatives to uplift healthcare facilities in NE states

With Northeastern states faced with shortage of healthcare resources, the Union DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) ministry will explore "new initiatives" in the field of health and medical care for the Northeastern region, said the DoNER minister, Jitendra Singh. The minister added that the feasibility of these initiatives would be either undertaken by public enterprises or through public-private participation.

Singh had a meeting with a team of medical and health entrepreneurs led by joint managing director of Apollo Hospitals, Sangita Reddy, yesterday. Reddy requested the minister for a possible public-private initiative in health and medical care in the Northeastern states.
 

"Many Northeastern states have sought the reinforcement of healthcare and medical facilities. However, there was no final word and it was yet to be decided whether this could be accomplished purely through public exchequer or public - private partnership (PPP) and in case of the latter, a definite module of guidelines needed to be worked out," said Singh.

Despite nearly half a dozen medical colleges in the region, Singh said, the Northeastern states still faced huge shortfall of health resources. "With increasing health awareness among all sections of society, the need of the hour is not only quantitative supplementation of the services, but also provision for quality healthcare so that patients from the region do not have to travel to long destinations for treatment," he added.

Singh said reinforcement of specialised and super-specialised healthcare in the region also held the potential to attract medical tourism from neighbouring countries, thus generating revenue and economic uplift of the region. While seeking to bring the Northeast closer to the mainstream, Singh said his ministry would also try to make the region a part of pan-India state-of-the-art healthcare infrastructure.

Being himself a medical professional, Singh said he would be open to suggestions and offers from various healthcare agencies from both private as well as public sector.