Munda eyes partners for healthcare

Ratan Tata, Kumaramangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia, Navin Jindal. These industry captains could soon be the ‘‘trustees’’ of healthcare for Jharkhand...

Ratan Tata, Kumaramangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia, Navin Jindal. These industry captains could soon be the ‘‘trustees’’ of healthcare for Jharkhand, reaching the best of equipment and facilities to the poorest of the poor.

The Arjun Munda government is keeping its fingers crossed ahead of the first meeting of its Sarv Swasthya Mission in Mumbai on July 4. The mission envisages a public-private partnership for healthcare, following from the state Cabinet’s granting of industry status to the health sector. The mission will take the form of a five-member trust, with the chief minister and the industry players.

While the fund-sharing mechanism is yet to be chalked out, the Tata group that runs a number of plants, including TISCO, TELCO and TIMKIN in Jharkhand, has already paid Rs 25 crore to the state government. Tata has also committed to continuing the contribution for the next 30 years.

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State secretary (Health) Dr Shivendu, who has a PhD in Economics from the California University, believes the project if implemented would take the shape of a health security scheme. ‘‘We will issue health cards to all residents of the state. For families living below the poverty line, however, we will provide medicare by way of insurance,’’ Shivendu told The Sunday Express.

With more than 54 per cent of the state’s population living below the poverty line as per the 2001 Census, the trust, if implemented, has its work cut out. The target: reaching life-saving drugs and facilities to 32,620 villages across the state. Although the percentage of the state’s population covered under the polio vaccine had gone up to 98.2 per cent against the national average of 94.8 per cent in 2004-05, of every 1,000 children born in the state, 71 die before they complete a year. Eight of 10 children suffer from anaemia while 45 per cent women suffer gynaecological problems. The state already has a wide chain of 3,495 sub-centres and 533 primary health centres, a network the trust will have to exploit.

How the mission will work

As per the report prepared by the State Health department (a copy of which is with The Sunday Express), the health mission will operate through a three tier system.

• At ground zero, it will hire health workers cum community mobilisers, sahiyya, on a contract basis. They will keep health records and undertake awareness campaigns.

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• At the second rung, the mission will organise regular interfaces between patients and the primary health centres. More services will be made available at the block level.

• At the top rung, patients referred at the previous levels will get access to advanced healthcare. After screening, they will be admitted in public, private or charity hospitals.

• Mission will have muti-fold objectives: protect poor from indebtedness resulting from medical expenditure, provide consultation,diagnostic tests and medicines on subsidised basis, encourage private investment in villages