Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad discussed the decreasing trends of diseases in the country.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday expressed concern at key health indicators including maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and infant mortality ratio (IMR), which continue to worry the government despite the achievements made under the national rural health mission (NRHM).
Delivering his inaugural address at the state health ministers' conference which began in the city on Wednesday, Azad said that the pace of decline of various key health indicators like the maternal mortality rate (MMR), the infant mortality rate (IMR), the total fertility rate (TFR), and death and morbidity due to communicable diseases, had not improved as compared to the pre-NRHM period.
About 25 health, medical education, and family welfare ministers, and health secretaries from across the country attended the conference.
Azad said, "The pace of decline has to be decreased, and only then the we can press for contribution of NRHM in the 12th plan which is currently up to 11th plan. We can convince the planning commission for higher outlay during the 12th plan period so as to achieve the MDGs."
Azad revealed that the union government had provided Rs. 53,000 crore to the states under the NRHM over the past 6 years.
Pointing out to the success of the government in tackling the spread of polio, and achieving some control in the rate of spread of HIV, Azad said that attaining control over the diseases had been the success story of 2010.
"In general, there has been improvement in health infrastructure and 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% to 72% during the period," said Azad.
"One of the success stories of last year was the progress in polio eradication after the introduction of the 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% detection rate and 87% cure rate, both of which are more than the WHO recommended levels," he added.
"In the case of HIV, new annual infections have declined by more than 50% in the last decade, while most of the countries are showing an increasing trend," pointed out Azad.
The Union Minister said that the national program for prevention and control of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and stroke (NPPCCDCDS), which was initiated in 100 districts across 21 states, would now be expanded to all the 650 districts in the country.
Azad stated that the union government was formulating a national urban health mission which would take care of the infrastructure needs at the district and the sub-divisional levels. As part of this, 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 advantage of the reforms introduced in medical education recently to set up more medical colleges, and to increase the intake of students in post-MBBS and PG courses.
Speaking at the conference, CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy said that the state government had made the health sector its top priority, and that it had initiated steps to strengthen the government-run hospitals.
He added that steps have been taken to improve the quality of health-care facilities in hospitals despite the scarcity of doctors. The government had also taken steps to overcome the scarcity by issuing notifications, and filling up the vacant posts of doctors, but the problem still persisted, said Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Pointing out to the health insurance scheme, Rajiv Arogyasri, Kiran Kumar Reddy said that it was initiated to save the lives of the poor and the farmers in the state who were resorting to suicides after being trodden by the huge costs of treatment.
The CM pointed out the role of the 108 and 104 ambulance services which had been successful in providing access to treatment for the people of the state.
Kiran Kumar Reddy added that though allegations that the Arogyasri scheme was in favour of corporate hospitals were being levied at the government, the fact was that about 1,100 surgeries were being performed per day under the 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 behind the government opting to use the existing facilities in private and corporate hospitals.
The objective of the conference is to assess the progress under various schemes, and to draw up an action plan for the rest of the 11th plan, and a roadmap for the 12th 5-year plan.
The conference is to attempt to focus on issues such as reduction in IMR and MMR, population stabilisation, prevention and control of infectious diseases, the National Vector-borne Disease Control Program, and the revised national TB control program.
Courtesy: INN