The Government is planning to launch comprehensive interventions for the control of non communicable diseases, pain and palliative care and geriatric care programmes in the State by converging the health system as well as AYUSH department initiatives, Governor Rajendra Viswanath Arlekar, said in his address to the Kerala Legislative Assembly, marking the beginning of the 13th Assembly session here on Friday.
The State health system and AYUSH department have always trodden separate paths as far as health initiatives are concerned and this is perhaps the first time that the government is talking about “drawing on the strengths of different systems of medicine” and “convergence” for tackling the State’s “next generation challenges”.
It is in this context perhaps the government is now giving attention to the standardisation and accreditation of AYUSH hospitals as per the National Accreditation Board for Hospital and Health Services (NABH) guidelines. The accreditation process has been completed in 150 institutions and another 350 institutions were working on the accreditation processes, Mr. Arlekar said.
The Governor, in his address, also said that along with standardisation of AYUSH hospitals, the Government had plans to do benchmarking of service delivery so as to ensure the quality of services provided.
He said that “as per the strategy of converging the strengths of all systems of medicine”, an ayurvedic palliative care programme has been developed and is being implemented in 1,280 institutions. As part of the “integrated approach to preventive measures” against lifestyle diseases and to promote a healthy way of life, more than 10,000 yoga clubs have been started in panchayats, the Governor said in his address.
Digital health initiatives
The government, which forayed into the digital health space by developing AI / ML-based products such as Immunochain (a Blockchain-enabled Vaccine Coverage Analysis System) and blood bag traceability project, in collaboration with Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-DISC), has announced further initiatives in digital health. The Governor, in his address, announced that the Health department will establish a state-of-the-art Data Analytics Unit.
One Health and AMR initiatives
Pandemic preparedness plans are being developed in all panchayats on the One Health platform. Building health system resilience to emerging public health threats and climate change issues on the platform by building partnerships with various stakeholders will be a focus area for the department. As part of tackling the silent epidemic of Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the government will be launching an accreditation plan for hospitals, based on a specific compliance criteria, to tag hospitals as “antibiotic-smart” hospitals.
Infrastructure building
He also spoke about the government’s continuous and consistent efforts to improve the State’s health infrastructure, in both government medical colleges, and district and field hospitals.
The Directorate of Health Services had 104 functional dialysis units in various hospitals at present and more were being set up. Also, cath labs are already functional in 12 district hospitals, while the same for Alappuzha and Idukki districts are expected to begin functioning this year.
Skin banks are being set up in the government medical colleges in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam to improve the quality of care and services being provided to burns victims.
Published – January 17, 2025 07:42 pm IST
