With a view to fill the demand-supply gap in health care facilities, the state directorate of health services (DHS) last week proposed to the state cabinet a Rs200-crore ‘master plan for establishing new health institutes’. Sources said, the master plan proposes augmenting the facilities by building additional 866 sub centres, 247 PHCs, 45 rural hospitals and 10 civil hospitals across the 34 districts over the next five years. Also, 17 special hospitals for women and newborns have also been proposed.
The proposal takes into account the growing rural population (15% from 1991 to 2001), as well as the fact that more people are having to turn to private health care facilities for relief. For one, while the 1980s saw 50% of state population going for private health care, this figure in the 2000s climbed to nearly 75%.
