Healthcare in dismal state: Survey
The picture is equally dismal in most Northern states, according to a baseline survey on well being of children and women, conducted by the NSSO.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: A child born today in the rural areas of the Southern states of India, along with his mother, can hope for a health care system that is almost at par with developed countries.
The picture is equally dismal in most Northern states, according to a baseline survey on well being of children and women, conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for the Indian government and UNICEF country programme.
In Gaya district of Bihar or in Lalitpur of Uttar Pradesh, only 5% children are fully immunised, whereas in Tumkur district of Karnataka the level reaches more than 90%.
Less than 10% of babies are delivered in some health care facilities in most districts of Jharkhand and Gujarat. Whereas in the Tiruvellore district of Tamil Nadu, the percentage is as high as 84%.
"The reason for this divide lies in cultural practices and state government initiatives", says S.D Tendulkar, Chairman, National Statistical Commission. Releasing the findings on Thursday, he added that panchayats need to be empowered, to develop a cure for these wide differences, as they can make a better area specific diagnosis.
The data for the baseline survey was collected from 43 focal districts in 14 states of the country. The survey conducted in 2005, found that keeping with well-being indicators such as immunization, education, health, sanitation and drinking water, most Southern rural areas demonstrate a much better level of well-being of women and children, relative to the rest of the country.
Thus, while the infant mortality rate in the districts of Madhya Pradesh was found to be 79 per thousand, it dipped to a healthy 12 per thousand in the districts of Kerela.
The minister of state for statistics, S.K Vasan mentioned at the release of the survey, that in India 26 million children are born every year, 9 million more than in China. He added that out of these kids, 1.5 million die before reaching the age of one and 2.4 million die before the age of five. In most cases the reason for early death is due to preventable diseases.
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