The Affordable Health Mission (AHM) launched on 17 August 2017 by former Hon'ble Governor of Assam, His Excellency Shri Banwarilal Purohit in Guwahati, is an initiative undertaken by GNRC Hospitals under the key leadership of visionary Dr. Nomal Chandra Borah that ensures access to quality healthcare for everyone.
Concentrating on the belief that denying health is unjust, inhuman, and economically enervating for society, the vision of GNRC Affordable Health Mission is to establish the world as a better place to live by building a society where ill-health is a rarest-of-rare event and not a commonplace event - a society in which every individual experience physical, mental and social well-being.
The Mission is an initiative to ensure access to quality healthcare services for every person in the society irrespective of their financial background and is currently active in 20 districts of Assam and 2 districts in West Bengal.
OBJECTIVES OF THE MISSION
Create widespread awareness - through education and advocacy - about the adverse impact of lack of access to affordable healthcare on individuals, societies, and economies.
Collaborate with members of society to catalyze individual and collective actions that ensure every human being has access to affordable healthcare of the highest quality, delivered with empathy.
The economy of a country depends heavily on the healthcare accessibility of its citizens. Access to quality healthcare carries out a massive role in children's and women's health and also the management of non-communicable diseases such as heart and neurological conditions. Lack of affordable quality healthcare causes over 55 million people to slide into poverty every year in India alone, due to catastrophic healthcare expenditure which neutralizes the gains of rising income and various government initiatives aimed to reduce poverty.
AREAS OF OPERATION
Currently operational in all the 20 districts of Assam and 2 districts in West Bengal.
THE MODEL
The Mission works on a dynamic model with a five-pronged approach- Prevention, Awareness, Affordability, Economic Empowerment, and Research and Innovation to ensure access to quality healthcare to all with its various initiatives.
- Prevention: Several field surveys conducted by GNRC Hospitals, observed that 60-70 percent of the diseases common people often suffer are preventable. It is more essential to keep them healthy and disease-free rather than treating them when they become sick. The cost of Healthcare has become expensive without a guarantee that every person treated would be undoubtedly alright. Therefore, prevention represents a more significant role in the making of a healthy society.
- Affordability: The majority of common individuals refrain from visiting the hospital because of unaffordability to access healthcare. The rising cost of healthcare is a global concern. Disruptive Innovation is our way to bring down costs and make it affordable for everyone.
- Research & Innovation: Continuous research and innovation must be there to address the issue of rising costs of healthcare so that it becomes accessible to all.
- Awareness: Most people arrive at the hospital too late pertaining to a variety of reasons. As a result, treatment gets longer and complicated, the outcome becomes poor. In fact, most of the primary causes of death encountered in countries like India in the hospital are due to the tardy arrival of the patients. Lack of awareness about diseases, their symptoms, and consequences leads to a tendency of delaying medical help.
- Economic Empowerment: While working on the previous aspects, it must be noted that poverty, ignorance, and ill-health go hand in hand. Unless this cycle is broken, people will become sick again and again and millions of lives will pass prematurely. Finding out innovative ways to economically empower these people is equally crucial so that the basic minimum needs of life and health are ensured.
UNIQUE FACILITIES AT GNRC HOSPITALS
The unique and ambitious model of the Affordable Health Mission thrives continuously at the service of people with its unique and standalone initiatives. The following are the activities carried out under the Affordable Health Mission.
- Free OPD Consultation
- Free Ambulance Service
- Free Treatment for first 24 Hours
- Same-day OPD to Prescription Service
- Free Transport Service
- Reduced Cost of Diagnostic Services
- Reduced Cost of Surgeries
- Assistance under Atal Amrit Abhiyan (AAA) and Ayushman Bharat- PMJAY
