Over 50,000 Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres operational across country

New Delhi: More than 50,000 Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs), which aim at providing primary health care services to communities closer to their homes, are now operational across the country and have witnessed over 28.10 crore footfalls, the Health Ministry said on Friday.

The ministry said 1.5 lakh AB-HWCs are to be established by December 2022.

With more than 50,000 centres having been established, one-third of the target has been met. This has led to improved access to affordable primary healthcare services, it said in a statement.

“This has been possible due to the joint efforts of the Center and the States/UTs in planning, monitoring at all levels, standardization of processes, the flexibility for adaptation provided to the States/UTs, and building on the health systems created thus far,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said.

He thanked frontline health workers, medical officers, community health officers and ASHAs for their dedication to the cause of providing comprehensive primary health care services and for supporting millions of people with necessary services in these difficult times.

“They are the backbone of the healthcare delivery system. Their contribution during the COVID period has been exemplary,” Vardhan said.

The Health and Wellness Centres have helped in interventions such as risk communication, contact tracing, community surveillance and early identification of cases, and seamless provisioning of non-COVID essential health services for ensuring protection of vulnerable groups, such as newborn, elderly and those with comorbidities, it said.

The 50,025 operational AB-HWCs are now spread across 678 districts, and include 27,890 Sub Health Centres, 18,536 Primary Health Centres and 3,599 Urban Primary Health Centres, the ministry said.

Together, these AB-HWC have witnessed over 28.10 crore footfalls of which over 53 per cent are women who sought care at these centres. More than 6.43 crore people have been screened for hypertension, 5.23 crore for diabetes and 6.14 crore people for cancer. About 1.0 crore people are being provided free drugs for the treatment of hypertension and about 60 lakh for diabetes, it said.