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Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Sunday said the state government has issued an order approving the implementation of Universal Health Coverage to ensure health protection for all sections of society. In a Facebook post, the minister said the scheme was formulated to provide health coverage to people who are not included in existing programmes such as the Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASP), Karunya Benevolent Fund, MEDISEP and other insurance schemes. The decision to launch the "Health Protection for All" project was taken following discussions and studies held at various levels over the past one year, based on the direction of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, she said. The matter was also discussed during the Vision 2031 review meetings, and the scheme is expected to bring relief to lakhs of families who are not members of any treatment assistance programme, the minister added. George said around 10 years ago, the treatment assistance provided by the government was only
The Gujarat government on Saturday informed the assembly that more than 2 lakh children in 20 out of 34 districts in the state were malnourished and that it was taking various steps to improve the situation. Responding to a set of questions raised by Congress MLAs during Question Hour, Women and Child Development Minister Manisha Vakil informed that out of 2.05 lakh malnourished children recorded in 20 districts, nearly 1.69 lakh were 'underweight', while 36,805 fell in the category of 'severely underweight' as on January 2026. According to data tabled by Vakil, the tribal-dominated Panchmahal district in central Gujarat accounted for the highest number of malnourished children (20,762), followed by Banaskantha (19,391), Kheda (18,590), Sabarkantha (16,588), Dahod (16,388), Chhotaudepur (16,322), Narmada (8,881) and Mahisagar (7,838). While tribal-dominated Tapi district recorded the lowest number of malnourished children (4,424) among these 20 districts, the highly urbanized ...
Aster DM Healthcare has set a capital outlay of around Rs 4,000 crore in the next few years to add about 4,080 beds, according to its Founder & Chairman Azad Moopen. The company, which received the final approval from shareholders for merger with Quality Care India Ltd (QCIL), expects the process to be completed in the next quarter, post receipt of remaining regulatory and statutory NCLT approvals, Aster DM Healthcare said. "Looking ahead, India will remain a key growth market for the merged entity. We plan to add 4,080 beds over the next few years supported by a capital outlay of approximately Rs 4,000 crore. Of these planned additions, 2,368 beds will be added by Aster DM and remaining by QCIL," Moopen said in a statement. Key expansion projects include two new hospitals in Bengaluru (430 beds on Sarjapur Road and 500 beds in Yeshwanthpur), along with capacity additions of 350 beds at Aster CMI Hospital and 159 beds at Aster Whitefield, the company said. In Kerala, the 263-bed .