Pinarayi Vijayan,Chief Minister, Kerala
He said that the state government is trying to prepare a comprehensive care plan to prevent rare diseases, detect them early, provide currently available treatment, provide therapies and assistive technology devices, ensure home-centred services and ensure psychological and social support
Thiruvananthapuram:
Kerala United Against Rare Diseases’ or CARE project will be a crucial step for the state in the field of rare disease treatment, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday.
He said that the state government is trying to prepare a comprehensive care plan to prevent rare diseases, detect them early, provide currently available treatment, provide therapies and assistive technology devices, ensure home-centred services and ensure psychological and social support.
As part of that, CARE, a rare disease care plan, is being announced. In many respects, Kerala is doing exemplary work for the whole country. The Chief Minister said that this will also be one of those.
The Chief Minister was making the official announcement of the care plan for rare disease treatment and inaugurating 42 urban public health centres and 37 isolation wards at the state level at Tagore Theatre, Thiruvananthapuram.
According to the World Health Organization, there are more than five thousand rare diseases. Rare diseases are diseases that affect an average of one to six people out of ten thousand.
As per the National Rare Disease Policy 2021, 11 centres have been recognized as Centers of Excellence at the national level. One of these centres is SAT Hospital. The Center has allocated Rs 3 crore for this.
As per the central policy, the centre can provide treatment up to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh per patient. But the reality is that this amount is not enough for the current treatments of many diseases. In this context, the state government is aiming for a comprehensive policy formulation for rare disease care.
The Chief Minister said that the stand of his government is that no one should be denied access to treatment due to high costs. The cost of living is usually relatively high in cities. The same is the case with health services. That is why urban public health centres have started to provide free and comprehensive treatment, he said.
At present 102 Urban Family Health Centers are functioning to provide health care to the people of urban areas. Apart from this, it is targeted to start 380 urban public health centres in 93 urban areas of the state. 42 of them are dedicated to the country. Earlier it was decided to prepare 10-bed isolation wards with modern medical facilities in each constituency of the state. Last year, 10 isolation wards were inaugurated. Now 37 more isolation wards are dedicated to the country, the CM added.
“Kerala ranks far ahead of any other Indian state on the Human Development Index. Within limitations, we have been able to achieve the kind of social progress that the world cares about.
Emphasizing that basis, Kerala is preparing to face second and third-generation problems in the health sector. The Chief Minister said that the projects being inaugurated here will be a step towards that.