Agartala, Oct 15, 2022, TRIPURATIMES Desk

Agartala, Oct 15: Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha on Saturday said development of the public health system is a priority of the state government.
Dr. Saha, who attended the 4th anniversary of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and first anniversary of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission at Rabindra Bhavan in Agartala, said the state government took a decision to make super-speciality block of Agartala Government Medical College operational full-fledged in the next 3 months. Besides, initiatives would be taken to introduce super-speciality service across the state.
He said, the central government launched the PM- Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Yojana, one of the biggest health insurance schemes in the world, on Sept 23, 2018 with an aim to benefit the low income group. Under this scheme, the beneficiary families get cashless health benefit up to Rs. 5 lakh annually. 
Around 12.92 lakh beneficiaries have been given Ayushman cards in Tripura till September in the current year. More than 1.17 lakh beneficiaries availed the free treatment benefit so far, he said.
Speaking at the programme, the Chief Minister said, each and every health centre of the state is being converted into Health and Wellness Centre. 
It is important to build good relations between doctors and patients to provide good service, he said, adding that the patients and their families should have faith in the doctors and their treatment. 
He mentioned about the efforts of the government towards upgradation of Tripura Medical College to the standard of RIIMS and NIGRIMS, setting up of AIIMS and a dental college. 
He also spoke about the important role of ASHA and healthcare workers in the successful implementation of Mukhyamantri Sustha Shaishab, Sustha Kaishor Abhiyan.
Chief Secretary J. K. Sinha mentioned about the important role of the healthcare workers in terms of providing benefits of different health related schemes of the government till the last person of the society. Director of Guwahati based Regional Resource Centre Dr. Ashok Roy also spoke on the occasion. 
Secretary of Health and Family Welfare department Dr. Debashish Basu and other officials were present during the programme. The vote of thanks was delivered by Director of Family Welfare and Preventive Medicines department Dr. Radha Debbarma. 
A documentary was screened on the success of Ayushman Bharat PM Jan Arogya Yojana and f Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. 
The Chief Minister interacted with beneficiaries, who availed benefits under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. A logo of the Health and Family Welfare department was also launched by the Chief Minister in the programme. 
For the successful implementation of Ayushman Bharat PM Jan Arogya Yojana, District Program Cordinators from different districts and the beneficiaries brought under the scheme were felicitated in the programme. 
Arogya Mitras were awarded on the ground of best implementation, issuance of largest number of Ayushman card and admitting patients to the hospital. Besides this, different health institutions were awarded for issue of Abha card, National Quality Assurance Standard and implementation of Lakshya programme. The awards were handed over by the Chief Minister and the guests.