Jaipur: The Centre will provide free pre-natal health care and ambulance facilities to pregnant women across the country, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced on Tuesday.
Under the Janani Suraksha Yojna (JSY) scheme, pregnant women are provided free medical treatment during the delivery and post natal care.
In addition to this, the minister said pregnant women will be given "free medical and ambulance facilities" from conception to delivery.
They will also be able to avail free consultation from doctors at government hospitals for 45 days from delivery and infants will be given free treatment at the hospitals for one year, Azad said at a press conference.
The minister said adolescent children (16 years and above) will be provided weekly supplements of iron and Folic Acid to prevent anaemic diseases in the children.
In February this year, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had launched `Rashtriya Bal Suraksha Karyakram` providing free medical care and diagnostic tests to children from class one to 12, he said.
For better awareness of available medical care programmes, facilities and doctors, slots with Doordarshan and All India Radio had bought, where interactive sessions with speciality and super-speciality doctors were broadcast five days in a week for an hour, the minister said.
Noting that the new doctors are reluctant to join their first posting in rural areas, Azad said, the Health Ministry was contemplating to include `internship` of MBBS students with rural posting, and a salary benefit of Rs 20,000 extra under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to those posted in rural areas.
"First time the seats in medical colleges were raised from 150 to 250," he added.
PTI
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookies Setting
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device and the processing of information obtained via those cookies (including about your preferences, device and online activity) by us and our commercial partners to enhance site navigation, personalise ads, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. More information can be found in our Cookies and Privacy Policy. You can amend your cookie settings to reject non-essential cookies by clicking Cookie Settings below.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work or you may not be able to login.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we may not know when you have visited our site, and may not be able to monitor its performance.