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Bengaluru, May 28: In a first of its kind initiative, the Karnataka government will soon launch 'Statewide Health Register', a project to maintain the health database of all its citizens, announced Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Wednesday.

The project will kick start from Chikkaballapura and Dakshina Kannada districts.

"With a vision to efficiently deliver quality healthcare to every citizen, Karnataka will soon have a Statewide Health Register. The pilot project will be implemented in Chikkaballapura & Dakshina Kannada dist shortly and completed in 3-4 months. @CMofKarnataka @PMOIndia @JPNadda," tweeted the Minister.

The government plans to get the data collected with the help of a team of Primary Health Centre (PHC) officials, revenue officials, Education Department staff and ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers.

"They will visit each household and collect health data of all the members of the family. This will not just help the government to provide better health care facilities, but also build an efficient resource allocation, management and better implementation of various citizen-centric schemes in the state," the minister added.

Sudhakar also said that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the necessity of having a robust, real-time public health system.

"Very few countries in the world have taken such an initiative. It is a futuristic project which will include 50 per cent partnership of private hospitals. It would be a cumbersome process but if we do this and digitise it, the data could be used for multiple purposes. The data would help us prioritise healthcare based on geography, demography, and other targeted measures. It would also help medical professionals and scientists for innumerable studies," he said.

"We have consulted all specialists from 18 different departments, and taken their advice into account," said the minister.

Chikkamagaluru, Jan 28: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Public Works Govind Karjol on Tuesday said that he is ready to quit if the post asks him to do so to pave way for smooth expansion of the Cabinet.

Responding to a question from media persons on the issue here, he said he was ready to quit his post any time.

“If the party asks me to resign now, I will send back my official car and return by bus”, he added.

Further, he opined that there should not be efforts to seek a berth in the Cabinet based on caste.

“Putting pressure on the party based on caste is not right. The party will consider those who worked for the party and also take district-wise representation into account while filling up the vacancies”, he added.

Bengaluru, Apr 18: The Indian Council of Medical Research has approved 16 laboratories, comprising 11 government and five private laboratories in Karnataka, for testing the samples of COVID-19 suspected cases, the state government said on Saturday.

Meetings and negotiations were held with some private laboratories for conducting COVID-19 sample testing, additional chief secretary (health and family welfare) Jawaid Akhtar said in a circular.

"Based on the negotiations, the cost per test has been fixed at Rs 2,250," the circular read.

These private labs have to abide by the conditions laid down by the state and union governments, it added.