News Analysis India

Tag: National Health Mission

  • Centre developing district hospitals under National Health Mission: Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said the government is committed to ensure health security for every citizen and it is strengthening district hospitals to provide better healthcare facilities.

    He also emphasised on the role of states in ensuring food safety and healthy food practices, an official statement said. Mandaviya released Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)’s 4th State Food Safety Index (SFSI) to measure the performance of states across five parameters of food safety.

    The index was started from 2018-19 with the aim of creating a competitive and positive change in the food safety ecosystem in the country. Speaking on the occasion of the World Food Safety Day, Mandaviya highlighted that there has been holistic development in the health sector. The minister said that the government is dedicated to ensure health security for every citizen in the country.

    For this, he said, the government is focussing on primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare fronts with various initiatives like health and wellness centres and strengthening of district hospitals under the National Health Mission.

    He praised the crucial role FSSAI plays in ensuring healthy and nutritious food to the citizens of the country. “It is important to note that states have an important role in ensuring food safety and healthy food practices. It is the need of the hour that we come together to ensure a healthy nation,” Mandaviya said.

    The minister felicitated the winning state/Union Territories based on the ranking for the year 2021-22 for their performance across parameters. Among the larger states, Tamil Nadu was at the top, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra.

    Among the smaller states, Goa stood first followed by Manipur and Sikkim. Among UTs, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh secured first, second and third ranks, respectively. Mandaviya also felicitated states which showed significant improvement in the State Food Safety Index.

    To motivate smart cities to develop and execute a plan that supports a healthy, safe and sustainable food environment through adoption of various Eat Right India initiatives, Mandaviya also felicitated 11 winning smart cities of the EatSmart Cities Challenge, launched by FSSAI last year in association with the Smart Cities Mission.

    He felicitated winners of the Eat Right Research Challenge for cities and districts and Eat Right Research Awards and Grants. Mandaviya launched various innovative initiatives by FSSAI including the Eat Right Research Awards and Grants – Phase II.

    Eat Right Creativity Challenge – Phase III, a competition at the school level and logo for AyurvedaAahar which contains the initials of Ayurveda and Ahara with 5 leaves symbolising five elements of nature.

    Further, the minister also released various e-books that advocate and capture innovative recipes about oil-free cooking and sugarless desserts.

    He also launched various resource books including Khadyanjali, a quarterly magazine published by the Rajbhasha Division of FSSAI; Guidance Document on Food Borne Disease Outbreak Investigation and Microbiological Process Control, Sampling and Testing of Fish and Fishery Products etc.

    To prevent burden from food borne diseases and to ensure food safety, Rajesh Bhushan, Union health secretary, said that a multifaceted and multi stakeholder approach involving industries, government machinery, regulators etc. is required and awareness must be created at each level of the society.

    FSSAI CEO Arun Singhal said that food testing paradigm in the country is being improved in mission mode and memorandum of understandings have been signed with states/UTs to carefully see the food safety implementation in their respective areas.

  • Reports claiming undercounting of COVID deaths are conjectures, speculation: Health Ministry

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Responding to media reports that claimed that India’s COVID-19 death toll has been undercounted, the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday called such reports ‘conjectures and speculation without any substantial basis’.

    In a statement, the health ministry said the reports, based on data from the National Health Mission’s Health Management Information System (HMIS) compared data from the Civil Registration System (CRS) and drew ‘erroneous inferences’.

    Media reports had allegedly cited death numbers reported in the HMIS and said in the absence of other information, these deaths should all be considered as COVID-19 deaths. Over 2,50,000 deaths were from causes not known, the reports added.

    “Attributing any death to COVID-19 without any basis than based on empirical data is fallacious and such inferences are mere figments of imagination,” the health ministry said.

    The ministry further reiterated the Centre’s transparency in its approach to COVID-19 data management and said a robust system of recording all COVID-19 related deaths already exists.

    States and Union Territories update the data in this particular system on a continuous basis, the ministry’s statement said, adding that in order to avoid inconsistency, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had also issued ‘Guidance for appropriate recording of COVID-19 related deaths in India’.

    The ICMR’s guideline aims at the correct recording of all deaths as per ICD-10 codes recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for mortality coding.

    “States and UTs have been urged through various formal communications, multiple video conferences and through the deployment of Central teams for correct recording of deaths in accordance with the prescribed guidelines. Union Health Ministry has also regularly emphasized the need for a robust reporting mechanism for monitoring district-wise cases and deaths on a daily basis,” the statement said.

    The ministry further said there would ‘always be differences in mortality recorded during a profound and prolonged public health crisis such as COVID pandemic’ and said that well-conducted research studies on mortalities are usually done after the event when data on mortalities are available from reliable sources.

    As per the ministry, as many as 4,11,408 lives have been claimed by the coronavirus since it broke out early last year. 

  • Centre rejects Uttarakhand government’s air ambulance proposal for cases of disaster, emergency

    By ANI
    DEHRADUN: Central government has rejected the proposal of Air Ambulance sent by the Uttarakhand government,in case of disaster and emergency, under the National Health Mission (NHM), said State Health Secretary Amit Negi on Thursday.

    State Health Secretary Amit Negi said that a proposal was sent to the Center under the National Health Mission for air ambulances in the state. “The central government has sent a letter saying that air ambulance service has not been allowed this year,” said Amit Negi. He said that the government had plans to start an air ambulance service for serious patients, in case of disaster and emergency.

    Uttarakhand is a mountain state as well as a disaster-prone state, there is also a lack of health services in the hilly areas, due to which the state needs air ambulances to take patients to the hospital in case of disasters or emergency.

    Meanwhile, Uttarakhand has 22,530 active COVID-19 cases. The total number of recoveries has reached 2,97,122 and fatalities have mounted to 6,573.

  • Centre nod to creation of reserve fund for health from cess proceeds levied under Finance Act

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi (PMSSN) as a single reserve fund for share of health from the proceeds of health and education cess levied under the Finance Act, 2007.

    The Centre said the salient feature of PMSSN is that it is a single, non-lapsable reserve fund for health in the public account and proceeds of share of health in the health and education cess will be credited into it.

    The accruals, said the government, into the PMSSN will be utilised for the flagship schemes of the health ministry such as Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Health and Wellness Centres, National Health Mission and Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.

    It could also be utilised for emergency and disaster preparedness and responses during health emergencies and any future programmes or schemes that targets to achieve progress towards sustainable development goals and the targets set out in the National Health Policy, 2017.

    The administration and maintenance of the PMSSN are entrusted to the health ministry. The expenditure on such schemes of the ministry would be initially incurred from the PMSSN and thereafter, from gross budgetary support.

    “The major benefit will be enhanced access to universal and affordable health care through availability of earmarked resources, while ensuring that the amount does not lapse at the end of financial year,” maintained the health ministry.