Nagaland joins the country in launching PMASBY

KOHIMA, OCTOBER 25 (MExN): Nagaland joined the rest of the country in the virtual launching of the Pradthan Mantri Aatmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PMASBY) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 25 from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

The objective of PMASBY is to fill critical gaps in public health infrastructure, especially in critical care facilities and primary care in both urban and rural areas. It will provide support for 17,788 rural health and wellness centres in 10 high focus states. Further, 11,024 urban health and wellness centres will be established in all the states.

Critical care services will be available in all the districts of the nation with a population of more than 5 lakh, through exclusive critical care hospital blocks, while the remaining districts will be covered through referral services.

People will have access to a full range of diagnostic services in the public healthcare system through a network of laboratories across the nation. Integrated public health labs will be set up in all the districts, informed a press release from the NHM.

The aim of the PMASBY is to build an IT enabled disease surveillance system by developing a network of surveillance laboratories at block, district, regional and national levels, in metropolitan areas. Integrated Health Information Portal will be expanded to all states and Union territories to connect all public health labs.

PMASBY also aims at the operationalisation of 17 new public health units and the strengthening of 33 existing public health units at points of entry, for effectively detecting, investigating, preventing, and combating public health emergencies and disease outbreaks. It will also work towards building up a trained frontline health workforce to respond to any public health emergency.

The PMASBY will be one of the largest pan-India schemes for strengthening healthcare infrastructure across the country. It will be in addition to the National Health Mission.