Kerala   

Health care network to be streamlined

Thiruvananthapuram: The Health Department is in the process of eliminating unlisted categories of health care institutions by upgrading these institutions so that only four main categories are maintained.

The process, which could be linked to the implementation of Indian Public Health Standards, will see the elimination of categories such as mini primary health centres (PHC), government hospitals and government dispensaries.

Henceforth, four main categories of healthcare institutions – PHCs, block PHC/community health centres (CHC), taluk hospitals and general hospitals – will be maintained in the public health system.

All unlisted categories of institutions are being upgraded to the level of ‘special PHC/CHC,’ by adding on facilities and posting more staff on contract through the National Rural Health Mission.

While the process could be seen as part of standardising all health care institutions in the public health sector, another reason for going ahead with this exercise is the fact that unlisted categories like government dispensaries and government hospitals have not been earmarked any funds under NRHM.

Institutions with less than seven doctors are to be re-named as special PHCs while those with more than seven doctors will become special CHCs.

More doctors, especially gynaecologists, and staff nurses will be posted on contract while nursing assistants on daily wages, and field health workers will be deployed in many of these institutions. Already, work on upgrading the CHCs in the district, 10 of which are being raised to meet the IPH standards this year, has started. The infrastructure upgrading is being handled by Hindustan Latex Ltd.

Another major exercise being planned by the department and NRHM is the deployment of an additional 3,400 Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in the district in the next two years. Already, 750 ASHAs have been deployed in the district to work in the coastal and tribal areas and in urban slums.

While questions are being raised about the difficulties in training and making operational such a huge army of community volunteers, officials claim that this will improve field-level activities and help organise infectious diseases control programmes better. Public health experts have pointed out that the Health Services already has a huge network of some 9,000 field-level health workers across the State, whose services are under-utilised.

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