NEW DELHI: In a move to expand emergency health services, govt has decided to establish 24×7 primary health centres (PHCs) and first referral units (FRUs) across the country.
As of March 2024, 12,348 PHCs have been converted to 24×7 services and 3,133 FRUs have been made operational, govt said. The fleet of mobile medical units (MMUs) has also expanded, with 1,424 MMUs now operating to ensure healthcare access in remote and under-served areas,” said an official, while briefing about the PM Modi-chaired Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to review progress under the National Health Mission (NHM).
India has over 30,000 PHCs operational. The PHCs are established to provide primary care to a population of 30,000 in rural areas and 20,000 in hilly, tribal and desert areas.
Dr Vinay Agarwal, of the Indian Medical , said making the PHCs functional 24×7 was a great move as it would help people, especially those living in rural areas, access emergency health services promptly. For example, in case of snakebite, deaths occur mostly because the patient can’t reach hospital in time. If medical intervention can be assured locally, at PHCs, it will help save many lives. Similarly, for maternal and child health, such a service is going to be a big boon.” Dr Aggarwal, however, stressed the need to maintain such facilities well, in terms of availability of required manpower, medicines, and other key equipment.
A key achievement of NHM, govt said, has been the increase in human resources within the healthcare sector. “In the financial year 2021-22, NHM facilitated the engagement of 2.69 lakh additional healthcare workers, including general duty medical officers, specialists, staff nurses, ANMs, AYUSH doctors, allied healthcare workers, and public health managers.”
