Date:04/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/04/stories/2006040415720500.htm

New Delhi

Professionals appointed to monitor rural health mission

Aarti Dhar

700 MBAs and CAs hired to ensure funds are utilised purposefully

NEW DELHI: The Union Government has employed financial professionals to monitor use of funds released to the States under the ambitious National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

Over 700 Masters of Business Administration (MBAs) and Chartered Accountants (CAs) have been hired on contract to monitor the funds spent under the Mission, it is officially stated. "This has been done to independently monitor the scheme and ensure that the funds are utilised purposefully."

Even as NRHM completes one year of its existence this month, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry is upbeat over having been able to put in place 1.73 lakh Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) -- the first port of call at the village level. However, it is yet to ascertain why the national Capital has been unable to draft the required State Health Mission when all other States and Union Territories have already done this. Apart from its own huge population, Delhi also caters to lakhs of people from across the country. "Delhi is working on it," an official told The Hindu .

The Ministry is hopeful of selecting 2.28 lakh ASHAs by April 12 when the Mission will be one-year-old. These ASHAs have been trained and are now awaiting release of funds for procuring the kits.

The ASHAs, anganwadi workers, and the auxiliary nurse midwives have been linked and connected to the functional health system. So far, Chhattisgarh has selected and trained the highest number of 60,092 ASHAs while Jharkhand has the least: 1,460. Bihar has 35,573 women health workers.

As far as the infrastructure is concerned, Rs 10,000 each has been released for upgrading 1.45 lakh health sub-centres. This amount would be released annually. As far as upgrading of the Community Health Centres is concerned, 1,057 have been converted as First Reference Units (FRUs) as envisaged in the Mission and 2,026 primary health centres now function round-the-clock.

The States, too, have started taking initiatives. In Uttar Pradesh, 5,000 gram pradhans have been trained for gender sensitisation, Orissa has initiated mapping of health resources, while in Himachal Pradesh the Panchayat provides a telephone for the public health centre free of cost.

In Bihar, 8,000 villages are connected through mobile medical units and Tamil Nadu has integrated the Indian system of medicine with the public health system, provided health insurance and started treating HIV/TB patients at the primary health centre level. Karnataka, too, has a health insurance scheme for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes while West Bengal has decided to rank the blocks as per the health indicators.