The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Urban Health Authority proposed for city

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Urban Health Authority proposed for city

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: An Urban Health Authority (UHA) under the auspices of GHMC is on the cards. The professed aim is to improve urban health care delivery through convergence of health care providers from Primary Health Centres to Super Speciality Hospitals, in public and private sectors.

About 247 Government hospitals, 368 private nursing homes and 603 private diagnostic centres are in the city apart from the units in Ranga Reddy district. All these will come under the purview of the Authority once the proposal gets Government approval.

At a workshop held jointly by the GHMC, District Medical and Health Office and attended by officials of various health departments, DMHO Ch. Jayakumari said the National Urban Health Mission will provide funds to the Authority. Also being mulled is a Public-Private Partnership mode in implementing the proposal.

She said the proposed system was aimed at strengthening referral structures through proper coordination among the Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and Super Speciality services as also departments of the Directorate of Medical Education, Vaidya Vidhana Parishath, Director of Health, and others.

Under UHA, Five Deputy Civil Surgeons are proposed to be appointed as Deputy DMHOs for all five zones with area hospitals as nodal points. Senior Medical Officers will be in charge of the 18 circles, while at the UHP level two medical officers will be appointed.

An Auxiliary Nurse Midwife will be made available for every 5,000 population, instead of the existing 20,000. An additional 43 UHPs will be required for the 74 lakh population of Greater Hyderabad if the norm of having an UHP for every 50,000 population is to be met.

Urban health posts, dispensaries, PHCs form the primary level while maternity hospitals, civil hospitals, community health centres and labs will form the secondary level.

Tertiary hospitals include Government hospitals while super speciality centres comprise autonomous hospitals and those attached to medical colleges such as NIMS and Gandhi.

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