Karnataka, which had been under-utilising funds allocated by the Centre under the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) till last year, has done fairly well in 2016-2017 taking the overall utilisation from 30% to 72%. This is way ahead of the national average of NUHM fund utilisation of around 50%.
Revealing these details on the sidelines of a NUHM orientation workshop for functionaries of urban local bodies jointly organised by the Union and State Health Ministries in the city on Friday, Union Joint Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) K. Rajeshwara Rao said that the State is, however, lagging behind in terms of gaps in human resources and capacity building. While others States on an average have a 40% gap in human resources and capacity building, Karnataka’s stands at 30%.
Karnataka, whose fund utilisation was nil in 2013-2014, jumped to ₹99 crore in 2016-2017. He said the focus was now on strengthening the implementation of NUHM and the Ministry was now keen on convergence of various stakeholders.
Letter to Mayors
Mr. Rao said he had personally written letters to Mayors of various cities in the country seeking their active participation and involvement in implementing NUHM. “Although there is no dearth of funds, lack of focus in planning is the main reason for the lacklustre performance,” he said.
In Karnataka, while 50% of ASHA posts are vacant, 27% vacancies of paramedical staff, 30% of doctors posts, and 30% of Mahila Arogya Samitis exist, the official said.
The Ministry has now tied up with IIM-Ahmedabad and Administrative Staff College to train 1,000 representatives, including Principal Secretaries, Mission Directors, Civic officials, and elected representatives from 200 cities so that they can play a vital role in effective implementation of the programme. The training will begin from May 1, he said.
Meanwhile, Karnataka’s plan document and monitoring software for elimination of malaria in the State was unveiled at the workshop. Principal Secretary Shalini Rajneesh and State NHM Mission Director Ratan Kelkar, who unveiled the plan, said it was aimed at eliminating malaria by 2022.
