National Health Mission (NHM), the UPA’s ambitious scheme, is all set for a major shake-up in the new NDA regime.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan is mulling inclusion of deadly diseases such as Malaria, Encephalitis, Chikungunya, Dengue, TB, measles and leprosy, besides non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, as components of NHM’s sub-missions for rural and urban areas to be supported by e-governance.
Till now, these diseases are being covered under separate programmes.Vardhan also stressed on the steps to sort out human resources crunch in the NHM’s rural component, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) — which has failed to deliver desired results in the rural areas despite its inception in 2005. The NRHM’s other component National Urban Health Mission has remained a non-starter till date even though it was cleared by the Cabinet in May last year.
“The NRHM is bogged down in unforeseen problems while the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) is a non-starter. Financial resources are not the problem, what has been missing till now is the human resource mobilisation aspect. Every cog in the wheel matters and we have to prove that,” Harsh Vardhan said after assessing the progress of the NHM on Friday.
Also, “the NHM will be heavily e-governed to ensure minimum slippage and zero corruption,” Vardhan said noting that it would help cut down out of pocket expenditure for the poor.
The NHM was launched in 2005 by the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government but was kept confined to rural India. last year it decided to expand it across urban India to help urban poor to access affordable health care.
In a review of NHM with officials, the Health Minister has decided to include experts from outside to revitalise the ambitious scheme and hold a meeting of health ministers from states under the aegis of Central Council of Health (CCH), which has not met for several years.The Minister also proposes to bring in experts and streamline the system to ensure effective implementation of schemes such as supplying free generic drugs to government health institutions throughout the country as part of measures to provide universal health care, said a senior health official.
Women specialists would receive special status in the Ministry’s new scheme of things and Vardhan has also reached out to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), who play a critical role in the execution of various programmes, to address their grievances.The Minister also favoured thorough streamlining of systems in the distribution of free generic drugs to government health institutions at all levels throughout the country, the official added.
