More funds for 184 districts with poor health indicators

NEW DELHI: Noting that progress in reduction of maternal and child deaths is uneven within states, the Union Health Ministry has identified 184 high priority districts (HPD) where it will pump more funds and resources to improve health care facilities.

The high priority dictricts (HPDs) were decided based on their poor indicators. Relative ranking of districts has been done within a state (based on composite index) and bottom 25 per cent of the districts have been selected as high focus districts for that state, senior health officials said.

These 184 HPDs include 17 districts from Madhya Pradesh, 19 from Uttar Pradesh, 10 from Rajasthan and Bihar, 9 from Maharashtra, 8 from Gujarat, Karnataka, 6 from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, 5 from Haryana, Manipur, Chattisgarh, Punjab and West Bengal, 4 from Meghalaya and Mizoram, Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh, 3 from Kerala and Uttarakhand and one Pondicherry, Sikkim and Tripura.

Annual health survey 2010-11 shows that progress in reduction of maternal and child deaths and increase in child immunization has been uneven between states and within states and government has planned out a strategy to focus on poor performing geographies and the populations with highest burden of mortality.

As per the strategy, it is proposed that states allocate 30 per cent higer resource envelope per capita for each HPD (within the overall state resource envelope under National Rural Health Mission) and special incentives would be given to medical and para medical staff for performing duties in difficult areas.

All the HPDs have been asked to carry out a rapid gap analysis in terms of human resources, man power and infrastructure.