Which of the following is/are the objective/objectives of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY)? 1. Correcting regional imbalances in the availability of tertiary health care services 2. Providing universal access to public health services and universal immunization 3. Augmenting facilities for quality medical education in the country Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a)1 and 3 only
- (b)2 and 3 only
- (c)1 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Correct — A, 1 and 3 only. The scheme's own statement of purpose is to correct regional imbalances in the availability of affordable and reliable tertiary healthcare services, which is statement 1 word for word. It pursues that through two components, and the second of them carries statement 3: new institutions on the AIIMS model, and the upgrading of existing government medical colleges. Both of those add teaching capacity as well as beds, so augmenting facilities for quality medical education is part of what the scheme does rather than an incidental effect. Statement 2 belongs somewhere else. Universal access to public health services and universal immunisation is the language of the National Health Mission, which works through primary and secondary care — sub-centres, primary health centres, community health centres and the immunisation programme. PMSSY sits at the top of the pyramid, not at its base.
- (b)2 and 3 only — Drops the scheme's founding objective and keeps the one that is not its. Correcting regional imbalances in tertiary care is the phrase PMSSY was written around; no statement of its purpose omits it.
- (c)1 only — Right about the first statement but too cautious about the third. The upgrading of government medical colleges and the building of AIIMS-like institutions are teaching projects as much as hospital projects.
- (d)1, 2 and 3 — The all-of-them option, and it fails on statement 2. Universal immunisation and universal access to public health services are the National Health Mission's business; a tertiary-care and medical-education scheme does not carry them.
PMSSY was announced in 2003 and launched in March 2006 to attack a specific problem: advanced hospital care in India was concentrated in a few cities, so patients from underserved states travelled long distances for treatment that should have existed nearer home. Its answer was to build tertiary capacity where it was thin, in two ways — new institutions on the AIIMS model, and the upgrading of existing government medical colleges. Because both routes involve teaching hospitals, the scheme adds doctors as well as beds.
The way into a statements item on a named scheme is to place the scheme on the three-tier pyramid of Indian public health and then ask which claims belong to that tier. Primary care is sub-centres and primary health centres; secondary is district hospitals; tertiary is the specialist referral hospital. PMSSY is a tertiary scheme, so anything about universal immunisation or universal primary access is on the wrong tier and can be cut. That test disposes of statement 2 without any memory of the scheme's text. Statement 3 is the one that needs a moment's thought, and the argument for it is structural — you cannot build an AIIMS-like institution or upgrade a medical college without adding medical education, because both are teaching institutions by definition.
- PMSSY's stated aim is correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable and reliable tertiary healthcare services.
- It works through two components: setting up institutions on the AIIMS model, and upgrading existing government medical colleges.
- It was announced in 2003 and formally launched in March 2006.
- Universal immunisation and universal access to public health services belong to the National Health Mission, which operates at the primary and secondary levels.
- Because both PMSSY components are teaching hospitals, the scheme expands medical education capacity as well as treatment capacity.
- Accepting the all-of-them option because every statement sounds like a worthy health goal.
- Attaching immunisation to any health scheme. It belongs to the National Health Mission.
- Rejecting the medical-education statement as an afterthought, when it follows directly from the scheme's two components.
As a statements item on a scheme's objectives, as a scheme-to-ministry match, or as a question on which programme covers a named health activity.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana works through which two components?
- (a)Health insurance cover and free diagnostics
- (b)Setting up AIIMS-like institutions and upgrading government medical colleges
- (c)Building sub-centres and training accredited social health activists
- (d)Universal immunisation and maternal health services
Answer(b) Setting up AIIMS-like institutions and upgrading government medical colleges — the two routes by which it adds tertiary capacity where it was thin.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Universal immunisation in India is delivered principally through
- (a)the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana
- (b)the National Health Mission
- (c)the National Medical Commission
- (d)the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana
Answer(b) the National Health Mission — it operates at the primary and secondary levels, where immunisation is delivered.