Chandigarh, Aug 25 : Punjab Government on Wednesday launched the Care Companion Program with an aim to turn hospital hallways/wards into classrooms and taps into the most compassionate and willing resource available for care.
Stating this here, Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said by sensitizing the patient’s own family for take care of their loved ones in the hospital and at home, the Punjab Government has initiated this scheme and now, Punjab becomes the first State to extend the program at Sub-division hospitals.
He said that India accounts for over 22 per cent of newborn deaths, with 5,22,000 deaths annually, more than any other country in the world. It is estimated that 70 per cent of deaths in children under 5 are preventable through better health practices, many of them actionable at home.
Mr Sidhu further said that Punjab Government is committed to improving the health status and welfare of Punjab’s citizens by increasing the awareness among people and building capacity of its healthcare workers.
He said that CCP has been shown to decrease neonatal mortality, burden of readmissions, post discharge complications and increase levels of hospital hygiene, productivity of nurses, and patient satisfaction in the Public Healthcare Institutes in Punjab. The program has been operational in the areas of Maternal and Child Health and General and Surgical patient care.
He informed that Care Companion Program was also recognized by Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at the National Health Innovation Summit in 2019. He said that initiative has started as pilot in 6 district hospitals in 2017 for postnatal care services, then expanded to all 22 district hospitals including antenatal and sick newborn care curriculum in 2018. With the promising results of the program, Care Companion Program for medical and surgical condition areas was also launched for 22 district hospitals in 2019.
