In the Budget 2023-24, the allocation for the Department of Health, Medical and Family Welfare has been increased by Rs 924 crore as compared to the previous financial year. The Department of Health, Medical and Family Welfare has been allocated Rs 12,161 crore in this year’s budget as compared to Rs 11,237 crore in 2022-23. Telangana has emerged as a leading state in the improvement of medical facilities. Presenting the Telangana Budget 2023-24, Health and Finance Minister T. Harish Rao on Monday said that NITI Aayog has ranked Telangana at the third position on the basis of provision of free medical care to poor people.
The Telangana government has developed a health city in Warangal, under which construction of a super specialty hospital with a capacity of 2000 beds at an estimated expenditure of ₹1100 crore is going on fast. The government has also decided to set up medical colleges in every district. In 2023, nine new medical colleges will come up in Nirmal, Asifabad, Bhupalpally, Jangaon, Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Khammam, Sircilla and Vikarabad. This will increase the number of medical colleges to 26. The government has proposed to set up nursing colleges attached to medical colleges in each district.
In addition to the existing 342 Basti Dawakhanas, the government has decided to extend these facilities to all towns in the state. The construction of four Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) super-specialty hospitals is expected to be completed by the next financial year; This will add 4200 beds to the government healthcare system across the state.
The KCR nutrition kit scheme which was launched in nine districts where anemia rates are high, will be implemented in all 33 districts from this year. About 4 lakh pregnant women are likely to benefit from this scheme. An amount of Rs 200 crore has been proposed for this.
The government is planning to set up a state-of-the-art transplant unit at Gandhi Hospital as transplant surgery in the private sector is expensive. In addition, fertility centers will be set up in three teaching hospitals – Gandhi Hospital, Modern Government Maternity Hospital Petalburj and MGM Hospital Warangal. For Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), the government intends to increase the bed capacity from 1489 to 3489 and expand the infrastructure with additional facilities, specialties and departments.
Palliative home care is planned in 110 Sub Centers – Health and Wellness Centers (SC-HWS), where 32 Mobile Home Care Service Units are being set up for outpatient care.