The Hindu : National : New standards for community health centres

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2005

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National

New standards for community health centres

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 12. The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry today launched the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) for the community health centres to provide expert care and maintain an acceptable standard of quality of care. The aim is also to make the services more responsive and sensitive to the needs of the community.

Announcing the IPHS at the launch of the National Rural Health Mission here today, the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, A. Ramadoss, said the mission aimed at strengthening referral hospital care for every one lakh persons as per the new standards. As of now, the health standards were under the purview of the Bureau of Indian Standards.

The services assured in community health centres such as routine and emergency care in surgery, medicine, obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatrics are to be made available under the IPHS. As regards manpower, two specialists — anaesthetics and public health programme manager — would be provided on a contractual basis in addition to the available specialists. The support manpower will include a public health nurse and an auxiliary nurse and midwife (ANM) in addition to the existing staff.

An ophthalmic assistant will be provided at the centres where there is none at present. The routine and emergency services that the community health centres must provide include incision and drainage, hernia, appendicitis, haemorrhoids, and fistula.

They should be able to handle emergencies such as intestinal obstruction and haemorrhage. Besides, 24-hour delivery services including normal and assisted deliveries, the centres should have a full range of family planning services, safe abortion services and newborn care.

All the National Health Programmes (NHP) will have to be delivered through the health centres.

The programmes that will be implemented through the community health centres at the district level include the Revised National TB Control Programme, HIV/AIDS Control Programme, National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme including malaria, filarial, dengue, encephalitis and Kala-azar, National Leprosy Eradication Programme, National Programme for Control of Blindness and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project.

The centres will also have a blood storage facility, essential laboratory services and referral (transport) services.

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