Ayushman Bharat Push: 70,000 Health And Wellness Centres Operationalised Ahead Of Deadline Despite COVID-19 Pandemic

In a major feat towards ensuring affordable healthcare for all in the country, the Government has completed the establishment and operationalisation of 70,000 Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs), reports Financial Express.

The Government has achieved the target to establish 70,000 such centres ahead of the targeted deadline of 31 March. This gains significance as the centres have benefited about 41.35 crore people with primary healthcare facilities so far, of which about 54 per cent of the beneficiaries are women.

Sharing the development, Union Ministry of Health Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the feat of scaling up primary health care facilities at this pace despite the COVID-19 pandemic was enabled by a high degree of coordination between the Centre and states and union territories, foresight in planning, flexibility in adaptation, standardization of processes, and regular interactions at all levels for monitoring and prompt redressal of issues.

Adding that the development is testimony to the process of effective decentralisation and cooperative federalism, the Ministry said that the launch of these centres in April 2018 marked a watershed moment in India’s public health history.

The Government is aiming to transform 1,50,000 sub-health and primary health centres in urban and rural areas into AB-HWCs by December 2022. This would help deliver comprehensive primary health care that includes preventive and health promotion at the community level with a continuum of care that is free and close to the community in rural and urban areas.