With a view to provide comprehensive healthcare to the residents, the National Health Mission (NHM) has established 613 health and wellness centres till date across the state.
Officials at the NHM informed G Plus that the establishment of these health and wellness centres was one of the prime focus areas of the state health & family welfare department since the past one year.
Under this initiative, the basic services of the health sub centres will be extended to provide “comprehensive primary health services in the district.” This will include maternal and child health services along with other diagnostic services, informed Debjyoti Deka, state programme manager, NHM.
Officials said that in order to improve on the facilities being offered at the health sub centres, community health officers (CHOs) will be engaged in these health and wellness centres.
Nilim Borah, consultant, planning at NHM Assam informed that they are also laying emphasis on providing free essential drugs and diagnostic services in every district including X-ray service, CT scan and free laboratory services.
Further, under free essential services, prevention and screening of non-communicable diseases for citizens above 30 years of age will also be included from this year onwards.
The NHM had carried out this programme as a pilot project in 2017 in a few districts including Kamrup (Rural), Barpeta, Nagaon, Jorhat and Dibrugarh. It will now be further extended to other districts this year.
According to experts, the state still lags behind in terms of quality healthcare provided by the government, especially in rural areas. Most of the primary health centres (PHCs) and community health centres (CHCs) are reeling under staff shortage.
This results in a high doctor-patient ratio in Assam which is much higher than the national average. Currently, there is one doctor per more than two thousand patients in Assam whereas, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) norms, there should be one doctor per one thousand patients. The scenario is worse in villages and other remote parts of the state as fresh graduates are reluctant to be posted in villages.
During his recent visit to Assam, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu stressed on the importance of doctors serving in remote areas.
Commenting on the unwillingness of doctors to take up service in rural areas, Naidu suggested that for MBBS graduates, it should be made mandatory that the first promotion would be granted only after they have served for some time in a village or rural area. The doctors who serve in rural areas must be given preference to take admission in PG medical courses, he said.
Naidu also emphasised on the need to increase the health budget in the centre as well as states and to increase the number of doctors, nurses and technicians in order to eliminate shortage of manpower.
Officials hope that these health and wellness centres will also play a crucial role in improving the maternal and child heath indicators of the state.
Currently, the state’s child and maternal health indicators also paint a sorry picture.
As per the Sample Registration System (SRS) survey, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in Assam stands at 300, which is the highest in the county, whereas the national average of MMR stands at 167.
As per National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4), a total of 30.8 % women are married before 18 years of age in Assam. This, in turn, leads to early pregnancy and contributes to high maternal mortality rate.
The SRS also revealed that infant mortality rate in the state went down from 47 deaths in 2015 to 44 in 2016. However, it is still much higher than the national average of 34.
The officials said that they are also emphasising on maximum number of institutional deliveries as it contributes in ensuring safe births. At present, the institutional deliveries stand at 70.6%, while 60% institutional births take place at public facilities.
Further, NHM officials said that the special newborn care units (SNCUs) in all district hospitals and medical colleges are playing a major role in newborn care. These are meant to provide intensive care to newborn babies.