A Niti Aayog Report 'Healthy States, Progressive India' on the ranks of States and Union Territories has placed Jharkhand on the top position among the larger States alongwith Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, Secretary Preeti Sudan, Country Director of Health and Family Welfare and World Bank Junaid Ahmed released the Health Index report in New Delhi on Friday. On this occasion, Amitabh Kant said that good work is being done in Jharkhand's health sector.
According to the report, among the larger states, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh are the top three ranking States in terms of annual incremental performance, while Kerala, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu ranked on top in terms of overall performance: In terms of annual incremental performance in Index scores from the base to the reference year, the top three ranked states in the group of larger States are Jharkhand (up 6.87 points), Jammu & Kashmir (up 6.83 points) and Uttar Pradesh (up 5.55 points).
However, in terms of overall levels of performance, these States are in the bottom two-third of the range of Index scores, with Kerala (76.55), Punjab (65.21) and Tamil Nadu (63.38) showing the highest scores. Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh showed the maximum gains in improvement of health outcomes from base to reference year in indicators such as NMR, U5MR, full immunization coverage, institutional deliveries, and people living with HIV (PlHIV) on antiretroviral therapy (ART).
Chief Minister Raghubar Das has given credit to the people of the State for improving the ranking. He said that according to the ranking of the Commission, Jharkhand is number one in the improvement of health services.
"We are committed to provide better health facilities to the three crore people of Jharkhand. The ranking of the Commission demonstrates the efforts and activities being done by the government in the field of health. The credit goes to the people of the state whose faith has made it possible. We are engaged in fulfilling the dream of 'healthy India, healthy Jharkhand'," he said. While congratulating the entire team working for the state's health reform, Das said that everyone has to work hard on the efforts.
The Chief Minister said that the government is constantly working to improve health services. In the last three years, it has implemented several effective schemes in the health sector, which has already improved the State's health services.
For the people of the poor and backward areas, Chief Minister's Critical Illness Treatment Scheme, 108 Ambulance Services, Chief Minister Health Insurance Scheme, Special Neo-care Center for providing special medical care to newborn to reduce infant mortality rate, establishment of Maternal Health Program, establishment of three new medical college in Dumka Hazaribagh and Medininagar where MBBS course will start from 2018-19, benefits of such a number of schemes are being provided to public.