With majority of its health schemes for the tribals failing to deliver over the years, the Government is now seeking public intervention for improved implementation of the programmes for the sector.
Public suggestions have been sought by January 27 on how to improve health of the tribal people, said a senior official from the Ministry adding that “based on which we will formulate a national health policy and roadmap for them.
The comments will be reviewed by the panel jointly set up by the Health Ministry along with the Tribal Welfare Ministry to look into the health issues confronting the sector which constitute 8.2 per cent of the total population.
The official added that “the need for public comments have been felt as despite several schemes announced time to time health indicators among tribal population have remained poor due to many reasons such as inaccessible health care, shortage of human resources, illiteracy and changing lifestyle. There are primary health centres (PHC) but many are lying defunct due to acute shortage of staff.
“Against this backdrop it was felt that there is a pressing need to review the strategies and approach in the policies meant for the sector for better results.”
In fact, various surveys on maternal health have shown poorer nutritional status, higher levels of morbidity and mortality, and lower utilisation of antenatal and postnatal services among tribals. Under-five mortality rates among rural tribal children remain startlingly high, at 95 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2006 compared with 70 among all children.
Besides conventional health issues, adding to their woes is the rising communicable diseases like TB, malaria, dengue, chikungunya, lymphatic filariasis and diarrhea as well as non communicable diseases such as hypertension, fluorosis, cancer, nutritional deficiency disorders and genetic disorders.
But what is more disturbing is that the non-communicable diseases including hypertension and diabetes, stroke and heart disease are on the rise among the sector.
Realising the gravity of the problem, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) in 2013 had already started conducting studies to survey the epidemic of diseases and their risk factors among these marginalised population.