Punjab Health Summit on Universal Health Coverage on November 11

By 121 News

Chandigarh 09^th November:- A Health Summit is being organized by Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Punjab in collaboration with PGI and WHO on 11th November, 2016 at IISER at SAS Nagar on "Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Universal Health Coverage: States' Perspective". Recently, Ministry of Health, Government of India organized a national consultation on Universal Health Coverage which led to the enactment of Delhi Declaration by the State Secretaries of Health. Punjab's Department of Health and Family Welfare has taken a lead to become the first state to organize a Summit to discuss strategies to achieve 3rd SDG goal of "Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages" by 2030. 

The summit will be inaugurated by Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal. Eminent dignitaries who would participate in the high-level summit include S K Jyani, Health Minister Punjab, Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director WHO SEARO, Dr Henk Bekedam, WHO Representative to India, CK Mishra, Union Health Secretary and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Secretary, Department of Health Research.

The summit will have participation of senior level health functionaries including Principal Secretaries and Director Health Services of Twenty States and Union Territories in India. National and international experts will discuss strategies for reducing out of pocket expenditures in health care, making health services available to all those who need and improving quality and accountability to health care services. Experts will deliberate on the strategies to control rising health care expenditures, introduction of information technology in health care for delivering services and tracking outcomes. Novel programs and schemes being implemented in different states and countries will be shared for cross-learning. Finally, the Summit will lead to creation of aVision 2030 to achieve SDGs and universal health coverage.

The event will also mark the launch of Punjab Health Care Portal, which has been developed for Department of Health and Family Welfare by HISP. This will be the first state level citizens' portal to provide information on health care facilities and services in different areas. This portal will also be used for obtaining patient's feedback on quality of services.