For better rural healthcare, Centre to tap grassroots

The Government today launched its ambitious National Rural Health Mission with the focus on decentralisation of healthcare at the village and district level. Launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a function in the Capital, the mission aims at providing healthcare facilities to the poor through a range of interventions at different levels — individual, household, community and health system.

While the mission has been allocated Rs 6,713 crore for 2005-2006, the amount in subsequent years will be dependent on the outlay of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The mission will cover all states and Union Territories with special focus on 18 states with weak health infrastructure and demographic indicators. It will lay stress on reducing infant and maternal mortality ratio, universal access to public health services, prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases, ensuring population stabilisation, maintaining gender and demographic balance, revitalisation of local and health traditions and promotion of healthy lifestyles.

Singh said the Government is fulfilling one of the promises made in the National Common Minimum Programme. Singh added that the slow improvement in the healthcare system has been a matter of great concern. ‘‘There is no denying the fact that we have not paid adequate attention to this dimension of development… We need to act quickly to bridge the income gap, education gap and health gap of our people,’’ he added. ‘‘The Indian health care system is perhaps guilty of many sins of omission and commission… That we have grievously erred in the design of our many health programmes’’

He added that the Government was committed to increasing the outlay in the health sector from 0.9 per cent to 2 per cent of the GDP in the next few years.