Thiruvananthapuram: The public health system in the State would be revived and better health care facilities given to the poor in the next five years with the full-fledged implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy has said.

The NRHM would be known under the brand name, `Arogya Keralam' henceforth in the State, she announced, while inaugurating the workshop for local body representatives convened here on Tuesday for the implementation of NRHM initiatives in the district.

Kerala, which has always enjoyed good health indicators, has not been able to sustain its past achievements in recent years primarily because of the deficiencies in infrastructure in the Government health sector. The Government hopes to improve health care delivery at the grassroots by revamping the primary and community health care centres in a phased manner, under NRHM, Ms. Sreemathy said.

Though the State has had a late start with the implementation of NRHM, much has been achieved in the past few months. Already, more doctors have been made available for service in the rural areas by implementing the compulsory rural posting for young medical graduates. By April 1, the service of more nurses would be made available in all hospitals with in-patient facilities, at a ratio of one nurse for four hospital beds. Local bodies can report the deficiencies in the hospitals to the District Medical Officer, the Minister said.

Ms. Sreemathy also announced that Government orders allotting Rs.20 lakh each to upgrade every community health centre in the State had already been issued and that funds would be released shortly. The Government was also planning to appoint one Junior Public Health Nurse in every ward for better health service delivery. She said arrangements would be made at the hospitals itself for the disbursement of the maternity benefits given to rural/SC/ST women under the Janani Suraksha Yojana.

Though one of the initiatives under NRHM — Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) — had not been envisaged for the State, the local bodies in coastal and tribal wards can now appoint ASHAs, who would make house to house visits to ensure better health care delivery. Mahila Swasth Sangh volunteers would be given the priority in the appointment of ASHAs, she said.

Ms. Sreemathy advised local bodies to concentrate on enhancing diagnostic facilities at the PHC level and not to utilise funds on constructing buildings.

Already many institutions had a lot of idling resources while medical facilities were poor. PHCs and CHCs would be, for the first time, given untied funds of Rs.25,000 and Rs.50,000 each which they can utilise for local health needs. District Panchayat president Anavoor Nagappan presided over the inaugural session. Block and Grama panchayat presidents and representatives of the local health standing committees took part in the workshop, which was aimed at formulating the District Action Plan for the implementation of NRHM in Thiruvananthapuram. District Collector N. Ayyappan, Director of Health Services T.K. Kuttamani NRHM State Mission Director Dinesh Arora and NRHM State Programme Manager Pradeep Kumar attended.

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