Rs 472 crore health project in Rajasthan

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje launched the Rs 472-crore World Bank-aided Rajasthan Health System Development Project here yesterday. The project aims at further strengthening the health services in the state.

Under the five-year project, district hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals, and 187 community health centres will be strengthened, and 238 medical establishments would be developed as model institutions. They will provide quality medical facilities in the rural as well as urban areas.

Speaking on the occasion, Raje said providing better medical services to all, particularly in rural areas, was the priority of the state government. Special measures had been taken for the poor, children, women, and downtrodden.

The state government intends to complete the project in five years. Raje said the government had earmarked Rs 550.39 crore for health services in the budget for the current financial year, which was 20 per cent more than the previous year.

She said that the "sanjivani scheme" would be initiated in 461 new sub health centres of the desert and tribal districts. She said 35 ayurvedic hospitals and 10 unani hospitals would be opened in the state.

Raje thanked the World Bank for funding the project. She hoped the expansion of quality health services would bring down the maternal and child morality rates.

Rajasthan Health Minister Digambar Singh said the health department would be reformed in two years, adding that 22,299 doctors and para medical staff would be imparted training under the project.

The representative of the World Bank, Sadiya Afroz Choudhary, said the health development project had started in nine states of the country and Rajasthan was the tenth to introduce the project.

She said effective training to the medical staff and demarcating areas of responsibility for officials would ensure a successful implementation of the project.

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The Rajasthan Health System Development Project is funded by the World Bank

Under the five-year project, district hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals, and 187 community health centres will be strengthened, and 238 medical establishments would be developed as model institutions

The state government intends to complete the project in five years