In the evolved principles of a welfare state, health is considered a cornerstone of every welfare responsibility. A state’s positive steps in the direction of well being of the common people not only just make a nation healthy but reduces the pocket expenditure of a family. It is more often seen that Government spending on preventive as well as curative health systems helps the poor & middle-class families to maintain their overall family budget.
Recognizing the very fact, the Yogi government in UP not only has made records in implementing preventive health schemes but also in the direction of a curative health system the government is presenting a national model towards this milestone, Brijesh Pathak, health minister in UP government is leading the charge.
Keeping a check on the health administration
UP deputy chief minister Brijesh Pathak was on a surprise visit to Ram Manhar Lohia institute in Lucknow. During his visit, he caught around 2.5 lakh medicines that had expired and the expected cost of the expired medicine is accounted to be ₹50 Lakh.
In 1:47 seconds, UP's deputy CM Brijesh Pathak roughly audited a loss of Rs 50 lakh to state exchequer while surprise check at Ram Manohar Lohia institute in Lucknow. Claims the loss could be in crores if properly audited. pic.twitter.com/SqFDAXs4CC
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) May 12, 2022
Expressing displeasure over the apathy of the hospital’s officials he said that on one hand patients are not getting medicines and on the other crores of public revenues are being wasted. He further claimed that in the preliminary audit only ₹50 lakh loss has been caught, the loss may be in crores.
Earlier in the first term of the Yogi government, Brijesh Pathak was not even minister of health in the UP government yet, he used to take the stock of health situations in the state as the UP was dealing with the severe outbreak of Covid-19. Concerning the health conditions during the pandemic, in 2021, he even wrote a letter to the additional health secretary of the state apprising him of the deteriorating situation of health administration in Lucknow against his own government.
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Transformation of Health Infrastructure
During the 2022 UP assembly election, Yogi Adityanath announced that there will be one medical college cum hospital in every district of UP. Moving in the direction of the Yogi government, earlier this week an announcement was made to equalize the ratio of doctors and nurses in the next two years.
According to the state government spokesman, the government plans to build seven 50-bedded hospitals in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, and Ghaziabad districts. In addition to this, 25 primary health centers in Varanasi, Ghazipur, Meerut, and Mirzapur. Further 23 community health facilities will be created in Gorakhpur, Pratapgarh, and Ghazipur.
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The government’s target is to bring down the maternal mortality rate of the state from 167 to 100, the infant mortality rate from 41 to 28, the neonatal mortality rate from 30 to 20, and the total fertility rate from 2.4 to 2.0.
Yogi Adityanath with his proven administrative capabilities has already set a record in decreasing the cases of Japanese Encephalitis, a vector-borne disease in UP. According to a report, the average case fatality rate of the JE was 17.49% with the highest in 2005 (24.76%) but within one year of taking the charge in 2018, it was brought down to 8%.
Under the guidance of CM Yogi Adityanath, the Deputy CM & Health Minister Brijesh Pathak is now leading the direct charge of this transformational change. With the surprise visit and active consultation, the health minister is not only overseeing the implementation of health projects but also fixing the accountability of health officials.
