Hyderabad, January 12: Union Minister for Health Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday expressed concern at key health indicators like the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) and the Infant Mortality Ratio (IMR) which continue to worry the government despite the achievements made under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
Delivering his inaugural address at the State Health Ministers’ Conference which began in the city on Wednesday, Mr Azad said that the pace decline in “various key health indicators like Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Total Fertility Rate (TFR), death and morbidity due to communicable diseases have not improved as compared to the pre-NRHM period.”
About 25 Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare Ministers from across the country and Health Secretaries are attending the conference.
Mr Azad added that the pace of decline has to be improved, and “Only then, we can press for contribution of NRHM in the 12th Plan which is currently up to XI Plan only. We can also convince the Planning Commission for higher outlay during the 12th Plan period so as to achieve the MDGs”,
Mr Azad revealed that the Union Government has provided Rs 53,000 crore to the states under NRHM in the last six years.
Pointing out to the success of the Government in tackling the spread of polio and achieving some control in tackling the rate of spread of HIV, Mr Azad said that the attaining control over the diseases has been the success story of 2010.
He said, “In general, there has been improvement in health infrastructure, referral transport and augmentation in human resources. Under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), the coverage of beneficiaries has gone up from 5.73 lakh in 2005-06 to one crore in 2009-10. The institutional delivery has also gone up from 47 per cent to 72 per cent during the period. One of the success stories of last year was the progress in polio eradication after introduction of biovalent polio vaccine. There have been only 42 cases in 2010 as compared to nearly more than 700 cases in 2009. In TB, we have achieved more than 72 per cent detection rate and 87 per cent cure rate which are more than the WHO recommended levels, he added. In the case of HIV, new annual infections have declined by more than 50 per cent in the past decade while most of the countries were showing increasing trend.”
The Union Minister said that the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPPCCDCDS) which was initiated in 100 districts across 21 states will now be expanded to all the 650 districts in the country.
The Union Minister also stated that the Union Government is formulating a National Urban Health Mission which would take care of infrastructure needs at district and sub-divisional levels, as part of which the Union Health Ministry has mooted the Bachelor of Rural Health Care Course as one of the solutions to improve the availability of health personnel in these areas.
He urged the states to take advantages of the reforms introduced in medical education recently and set up more medical colleges and increase intake of students in post-MBBS and PG courses.
Speaking at the Conference, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said that the state government has made the health sector its top priority and have initiated steps to strengthen the government-run hospitals.
He added that steps have been taken to improve the quality of health care facilities in these hospitals, despite the scarcity of doctors. The government has also taken steps to overcome this scarcity by issuing notifications by filling up the vacant posts of doctors but the problem still persists, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy said.
Pointing out to the health insurance scheme, Rajiv Arogyasri, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy said that it was initiated to save the lives of poor and farmers in the state who were resorting to suicides after being trodden by the huge costs of treatment and the non-availability.
The Chief Minister added that also pointed out to the role of 108 and 104 ambulance services which had been successful in providing access to treatment for the people of the state.
Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy added that though allegations that the Arogyasri scheme was in favour of Corporate hospitals were being levied at the government, the actual fact was that about 1,100 surgeries were being performed per day under scheme, despite the fact that the government hospitals did not have the required facilities.
He said that about Rs 50,000 crore would have been needed to upgrade the facilities of the government hospitals, and this was the reason the government opted to use the existing facilities in private and Corporate hospitals.
The objective of the Conference is to assess the progress under various schemes and draw up an action plan for the rest of XI Plan and roadmap for XII Five Year Plan.
The conference will attempt to focus on issues such as reduction in IMR and MMR, population stabilisation, prevention and control of infectious diseases, National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme, Revised National TB Control Programme.
INN