Centre to appoint private consultant for AIDS count

The ministry will also launch a nationwide Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) in a month’s time. The IDSP, with a five-year timeframe, will focus on tracking down diseases, upgrading infrastructure in district headquarter hospitals and coordinating efforts between the Central and state governments in tackling malaria, cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis, measles, polio and plague.

The ongoing surveillance of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B & C will also be brought under IDSP, Anbumani said.

The Rs 408.36-crore project will cover 602 districts across the country, of which 206 districts in nine states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh will be covered in the first phase. Of these, Tamil Nadu alone will receive Rs 26 crore.

The second phase will cover 176 districts in 12 states and the remaining 210 districts will be covered in the last phase. Of the total project allocation, 75 per cent will be funded by the World Bank and the remaining by the Centre. Surveillance teams with trained personnel will be formed in each district to collect and forward information about the diseases to the authorities. The second phase of the National Programme for Blindness Control will be revamped at a cost of Rs 445 crore. Of this, Rs 248 crore will be given as recurring assistance to states, the minister said.

On medical education, Anbumani said a ‘National Board of Exams’ would be constituted to admit students at the national level to medical colleges for a Post-Graduate programme on international lines. The Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) is currently being revamped at Rs 100 crore, Anbumani said.