Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Rajasthan hails state health system

Shastry V Mallady

Officials have been impressed by primary health centres, peripheral hospitals

HIGHLIGHTING A POINT: Supriya Sahu, Project Director, Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project, speaking at a review meeting in the city on Tuesday. — Photo: K. Ganesan.

MADURAI : Rajasthan is keen on learning establishment of a thorough health system from Tamil Nadu and improve basic public health parameters like bringing down infant mortality rate, Aparna Arora, Project Director, Health Systems Development Project, Government of Rajasthan, has said.

"From our visits to various primary health centres (here), we found the health network and systems excellent. The Tamil Nadu model will help us enhance our performance in public health," Ms. Arora told The Hindu here on Tuesday.

A team of officials from Rajasthan is currently on a visit to the State and in the last two days it covered Theni and Madurai districts to get first hand knowledge about the `Comprehensive Emergency Child and Obstetric New Born Care (CEmONC) Project' being implemented by the Government.

Accompanied by senior health officials from Tamil Nadu, the Rajasthan team went around health centres in peripheral/rural areas to see how the health project could be taken to people effectively.

Supriya Sahu, Project Director, Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project, who was here to review the functioning and address a `sensitisation workshop,' gave an overview of how the primary health centres were being upgraded to provide comprehensive health care to rural people.

Members of the Rajasthan delegation also said that they had a World Bank-funded health systems project as in Tamil Nadu. But they want to learn how to put in place a 24-hour medical care facility for rural people.

The members on Tuesday visited the Tirupparankundram Primary Health Centre, accompanied by local district health officials. Earlier, addressing the government health officials/staff during the review, Ms. Sahu said a lot of emphasis was laid on maternal and child health projects. Steps were taken to upgrade 106 PHCs as 30-bedded hospitals with X-ray, ultrasound, ECG, lab equipment and round-the-clock emergency services.

She pointed out that under its health initiatives the Government wanted to increase the number of women going to government hospitals for deliveries.

Also, specialists in PHCs were moved to secondary care institutions while village health nurses asked to stay in health sub-centres for the benefit of rural people.

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