Under NRHM, states will be supported for creation and up gradation of health infrastructure, increased mobility and technical support.

North East News Agency

Union Health Minister Dr. Ambumani Ramadoss formally launched the National Rural        Health Mission (NRHM) in the North-East at Guwahati on November 8. The Minister on this occasion said that the Central Government is giving special thrust to the improvement of health care facilities in the North-Eastern region. He said that the Community Health Centres (CHC’s) all over the region would be modernised and new medical, nursing and dental colleges would be established.

The Union Minister said that apart from equipping the CTCs with latest medicines and equipments, blood banks and laboratories would also be modernised. “What could not be done in the last five decades will be done in the next five years,” Mr. Ramadoss asserted.

Under NRHM, the states will be supported for creation and up gradation of health infrastructure, increased mobility and technical support. Funding would be made available in a comprehensive manner through a State specific schemes and initiatives. The Union Minister admitted that at present health care services in the North-East are poor and the region has to do a lot to measure up to the goals envisaged in the National Health Policy and National Population Policy. The Union Health Ministry has appointed a Joint Secretary to exclusively look in to the health care sector of the North-Eastern region.

Following this regional launch of NRHM, Dr. Ramadoss also inaugurated the first Regional Resources Centre (RRC) for the North-East states. RRC will help to facilitate the implementation of NRHM and all its components and will also help to prepare policy proposals on organisational restructuring of the health system at all levels. RRC has been established by Central Government with support from the European Union, UNFPA, DFID and others. RRC is based on the Hub and Spoke model. It will have seven technical specialists at the hub and one State facilitator at each State.

North-Eastern region is one of the most complex regions of the country in terms of its diverse culture, language, ethnicity, accessibility and over all development. Despite over a 50-odd years of efforts, the region remains under developed in terms of infrastructure, communication, health care facilities, human resource, industrial development, etc. owing to lack of comprehensive and concerted efforts of both Government of India and the State Governments.

Successive government at the Centre have developed the North-Eastern as a region of special importance and declared special packages for the development of the region. At present, there are two major administrative arrangements for the North-Eastern states, namely the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) and the North Eastern Council (NEC). In addition to special packages and dispensation, Central Ministries have been directed to ensure that 10 per cent of their budget is spent on North-East region. Failure to spend 10 per cent of the budget results in impounding of the unspent balance in expenditure to the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), which is then administered by the Ministry of DONER.

The National Common Minimum Programme of the Central Government further brings in to focus the need for greater attention to the region. It clearly spells out the agenda for North-East.

According to Dr. Ramdoss, “The aim is to make all facilities available in the North-East, so that even a single person need not go out of the region for treatment.” The whole region is indeed looking up to the dynamic Minister and the promising NRHM for a revolution in the field     of health care.

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