About

• The recent Union Budget announced a new centrally sponsored scheme called Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana with an outlay of about Rs 64,180 crore over six years.
• The scheme will be focused at: 
  • developing primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare systems, 
  • strengthening existing national institutions, and 
  • creating new institutions for detection and cure of new diseases.  
• It is aimed at developing capacity at the primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare levels, strengthening existing institutions and creating new ones, specifically to detect and cure emerging diseases.

Why in News?

• The Central Government is set to launch the Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana. Prime Minister Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PMASBY) will be one of the largest pan-India schemes for strengthening healthcare infrastructure across the country. 
• The objective of PMASBY is to fill critical gaps in public health infrastructure, especially in critical care facilities and primary care in both the urban and rural areas.  
• Critical care services will be available in all the districts of the country with more than 5 lakh population, through Exclusive Critical Care Hospital Blocks, while the remaining districts will be covered through referral services.
• People will have access to a full range of diagnostic services in the Public Healthcare system through Network of laboratories across the country. Integrated Public Health Labs will be set up in all the districts.
• PMASBY targets to build an IT enabled disease surveillance system by developing a network of surveillance laboratories at block, district, regional and national levels, in Metropolitan areas. Integrated Health Information Portal will be expanded to all States/UTs to connect all public health labs.
• PMASBY also aims at Operationalisation of 17 new Public Health Units and strengthening of 33 existing Public Health Units at Points of Entry, for effectively detecting, investigating, preventing, and combating Public Health Emergencies and Disease Outbreaks. It will also work towards building up trained frontline health workforce to respond to any public health emergency.

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1766112