We continue to prioritise and focus on transforming primary healthcare: Rajesh Ranjan Singh, CEO, WISH Foundation
The Government of India is working really hard on transforming primary healthcare. The simple reason that roughly around 65 to 67 percent of diseases, which get referred and treated at tertiary care hospitals can easily be handled at primary health centres.
Shahid Akhter, editor, ETHealthworld, spoke to Rajesh Ranjan Singh, CEO, WISH Foundation, to know more about the need to strengthen the primary healthcare services so that the burden on tertiary care centres can be reduced.
Primary Healthcare: Role and Need in the Pandemic
Primary healthcare is basically the back bone of any national health strategy. India has also prioritised primary healthcare as a core area of its investment, and a separate budget has been allocated to convert primary health centres into health and wellness centers. The Government of India is working really hard on transforming primary healthcare. The simple reason that roughly around 65 to 67 percent of diseases, which get referred and treated at tertiary care hospitals can easily be handled at primary health centers. That will decrease the burden on tertiary care so that they can focus on actual tertiary care; and secondly, it will also reduce the out-of-pocket expenses of the last mile so that they don’t have to use their wages. They don’t have to incur expenses on transportation, and going and spending hours in the queues of tertiary care hospitals.