AP govt to roll out 'family doctor' concept from Aug 15

Vijayawada: AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday directed the officials to increase the number of treatments under Arogyasri and make them available from August 1 and roll out the family doctor concept from August 15 in a phased manner.

During a review, he emphasised equipping village clinics and PHCs with digital video connectivity, besides providing virtual bank accounts to Arogyasri beneficiaries for directly crediting the amount into the patient's account.

He said that hospitals must take a consent form before admitting the patient and a declaration form at the time of discharging the patient duly filling in the details of the treatment, government's assistance, and Aarogya Aasara.

He ordered the authorities to enclose toll-free number 14,400 or 104 in the declaration form, for raising complaints regarding additional fees or bribery.

The Chief Minister instructed the officials to send health personnel to enquire about the health condition of the discharged person and submit feedback on the services provided to the patient.

Further, he ordered the officials to focus on preventing bribery incidents in 108 and 104 services and told them to display the ACB toll-free numbers on the vehicles.

Reviewing Covid-19 conditions, the Chief Minister asked them to speed up the vaccination process, especially for those aged above 60 years, as the duration of precaution dose was reduced.

The officials informed him that the Covid situation is completely under control, where only a few cases are getting registered. They informed that only 69 people are admitted to hospitals and all of them are recovering. In regard to vaccination, they said that 87.15 per cent of people were given precautionary doses, 99.69 per cent of the 15 to 17-year-olds have been administered with two doses and 98.93 per cent of those between 12 and 14 years of age have completed the second dose.

Reviewing the recruitment of staff in the health sector, the Chief Minister directed the authorities to complete the recruitment process by the end of July and stated that there should be an adequate number of doctors and staff from the primary health center to the teaching hospital, without any lapses. Officials said that 40,476 posts have been filled so far across the State, since 2019. Also, he directed them to expedite the construction works of 16 new medical colleges and plan accordingly to start the classes at the earliest possible.

Health Minister Vidadala Rajani, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Medical and Health Principal Secretary Muddada Ravichandra, Health and Family Welfare Director J. Nivas, Medical and Health Special Secretary GS Naveen Kumar, Arogyasri CEO V Vinay Chand, APMSIDC VC and MD D Muralidhar Reddy, APVVP Commissioner V. Vinodkumar, Medical and Health Director (Drugs) Ravi Shankar and others were present.