New Year gifts to citizens - Fusion - WeRIndia

The government has come up with a unique new gift on the occasion of the New Year. There will be free diagnostics scheme in the New Year. The health ministry has written to all states in order to provide several essential services for free to the patients who are visiting public healthcare facilities.

Under these diagnostic services offered for free, there are tests like blood and urine tests for chronic diseases like diabetes, for tropical diseases like malaria and dengue, HIV tests. The scheme also includes essential imaging and radiology services like X-ray, CT scan and ultrasound.

According to a senior official, it may not be possible for some states to start all these services immediately. However, the health ministry has asked those states to provide some of these services and then add advanced services later on in future.

This scheme will be there along with the free drug distribution scheme. It is part of the National Health Assurance Mission. It is a flagship programme of the NDA government which promised universal healthcare. Even though NHAM has promised several health services, the government has only been able to notify only free drug scheme in 29 states so far. Out of these states, only 12-15 states have started implementation.

There are states like Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan which have implemented such schemes long before the center itself has rolled out the scheme. According to officials, there are several factors which make it hard for the health ministry to implement these schemes. Factors like severe capacity constraints in many states like Bihar and Jharkhand along with a lack of human resources in states like Uttar Pradesh have become huge challenges in the implementation of the programme. The program will now be implemented in stages for higher control and to streamline it.

In another move, PM Modi on Thursday announced that there will be no interviews for Grade-III and Grade-IV central government jobs after clearing the written exams. This announcement thus helps youth to cross bureaucratic hurdles and free from the clutches of corruption. He also urged all state governments to implement the scheme to improve transparency in government agencies.

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