Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Indonesia studying the Kerala model

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala seems to be much ahead in the health decentralisation experiment than many other governments which have attempted it, feels Dr. Minarto of the Directorate of Community Health and Nutrition of Indonesia.

Dr. Minarto is leading a seven-member team from Indonesia’s Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Home Affairs on an exchange programme to India to learn about decentralisation in the health sector. The team, accompanied by representatives from the World Health Organisation (WHO), will spend three days in Kerala to study how decentralisation has been working in the State’s health sector.

The experience-sharing programme is a project of the Indian and Indonesian Ministries of Health, the WHO Regional Office, South East Asia (WHO-SEARO) and the WHO country offices in both countries. The team conveyed to the Health Department that decentralisation also seems to have helped the government in delivering better health care services at the grassroots.

“Indonesia has also been trying to implement decentralisation in the health sector, but it is in a nascent stage. The team wanted to learn about Kerala’s decentralisation experience as the State is the pioneer in this area,” a WHO official accompanying the team said.

The team held detailed discussions with Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy and Health Secretary Vishwas Mehta on Monday morning. A presentation on the State’s health system and how decentralisation has been implemented in the sector was also made.

“They were keen on learning how we had transferred the buildings and staff to local bodies. We could explain how we have been able to develop health care infrastructure at the grassroots with the help of local bodies and how we have evolved a system of hospital development committees,” Dr. Mehta said.

“Indonesia framed its decentralisation laws in 1999 and have just started implementing it. We want to learn from Kerala how the Health Department, local bodies and the community can play proactive roles in planning, decision-making and implementation in a decentralised system,” Dr. Minarto said.

As part of their field visits, the team spent some time interacting with the Accredited Social Health Activists (Ashas) in the district. They also had discussions with the district panchayat president.

“They were interested in finding out if the devolution of powers to the local bodies has been smooth and if the Health Department and the local bodies were getting along without stepping on each other’s toes,” a Health Department official said.

They were given a warm welcome at the Aanad primary health centre by the entire panchayat team. They also visited the Kanyakulangara community health centre and the Nedumangad taluk hospital. The team is slated to visit selected institutions in Kollam.

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