Ayushman Aarogya Mandirs made significant changes in healthcare in rural Udhampur in J&K
Jul 23, 2024
Udhampur (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], July 23 : Health and Wellness Centres, commonly known as the Ayushman Aarogya Mandirs, have made significant changes in the healthcare facilities in rural areas of Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.
Around 146 such centres in the district have been set up, which has improved access to healthcare and medical facilities for the people, especially pregnant women living in that region.
Udhampur Chief Medical Officer, Anil Manhas, said that in the last one to one and a half years, healthcare facilities have improved greatly here, and free medicines are also being provided to the patients, along with a focus on both physical and mental health.
"In the last one to one and a half years, healthcare facilities have improved greatly in Udhampur. 146 such healthcare centres are functional in the district. Primarily, we do screening here and if a suspected patient is found, we refer them to a higher level. Free medicines are provided here. Infrastructure has improved... Along with physical health, we also focus on mental health and hence we also arrange yoga classes in the centres," Manhas said.
Ayushman Aarogya Mandirs is an initiative by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in an attempt to move from a selective approach to health care to deliver a comprehensive range of services spanning preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative care.
According to the Ayushman Aarogya Mandir website, it has two components that are complementary to each other.
Under its first component, 1,50,000 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs will be created to deliver comprehensive primary health care that is universal and free to users, with a focus on wellness and the delivery of an expanded range of services closer to the community.
The second component is the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), which provides health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakhs per year to over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families seeking secondary and tertiary care.
Currently, there are 1,73,763 functional Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, which include 1,27,637 sub-health centres, 23,908 primary health centres, 5,108 urban primary health centres, 11, 806 Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy centres, and 5,304 urban health and wellness centres.
