Aarogyasri Spending Sees 40% Jump In Ap | Visakhapatnam News

VISAKHAPATNAM: Andhra Pradesh spent about Rs 2,900 crore on various medical procedures and services under Dr YSR Aarogyasri scheme in 2022, which is a nearly 40% increase compared to 2021. As many as 809 additional medical procedures were brought under the Aarogyasri net, taking the number of free medical services to 3,255.
The outlay on Aarogyasri in 2022 was a three-fold increase since the state’s bifurcation, when the state expended nearly Rs 900 crore in the 2014-15 financial year (Rs 147 crore before bifurcation as of June 1, 2014 and Rs 748 in the remaining financial year).

During the discharge, a consent letter and confirmation letter are being obtained from patients. This new system was launched in August 2022. Consent and confirmation letters have been obtained from about two lakh patients as of December 1.
The state initiated several reforms in the last few years, including planning 17 new medical colleges and recruiting about 40,000 medical personnel. The state is now gearing up to tackle the possible surge in Covid-19 cases, which may be caused by the BF7 subvariant of Omicron.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy recently asked the officials to get all the government hospitals prepared for the BF7 challenge. He set a deadline to complete the process by January 5. “After preparing the government hospitals, private hospitals in the state should also be asked to be ready for the emerging BF.7 challenge,” said Jagan Mohan Reddy. The CM launched 144 pressure swing absorption (PSA) oxygen plants setup at various government hospitals across the state this year.
Under the ‘Nadu-Nedu’ (now-then) programme in the medical health sector, the state government is revamping the hospitals with about Rs 16,250 crore. As many as 11,888 works have been undertaken in the existing and new hospitals, of which 4,851 have been completed so far.
The state has proposed construction of 17 new medical colleges with about Rs 12,268 crore, along with the existing 11 medical colleges. The new medical and nursing colleges will be built in Paderu, Vizianagaram, Narsipatnam, Rajahmundry, Palakollu, Amalapuram, Eluru, Machilipatnam, Bapatla, Markapuram, Piduguralla, Madanapalle, Pulivendula, Penukonda, Adoni, Nandyala and Parvathipuram.
The state has recently rolled out ‘family physician’ concept, which is expected to reduce the load on secondary and tertiary hospitals. Every mandal will have four doctors and two ambulances with one doctor and an ambulance touring the assigned villages. Aimed at extending health care to the rural population, the government is also setting up YSR Village Clinics for every 2,000 people. Of the 10,032 village clinics, 3,673 are ready and an amount of Rs 1,692 crore was sanctioned for the construction.