Improving and optimising human resources for health, infrastructure building, trauma care and prevention and management of lifestyle diseases are some of the thrust areas identified for the State’s health sector when the 12th Plan is implemented.
There would be no scarcity of resources for health sector in the 12th Plan as there was a 322 per cent increase in the allocation for health over the 11th Plan. It was up to the State to ensure that its healthcare moved up a higher level and that the funds were utilised effectively, Principal Secretary (Health), Rajeev Sadanandan, said.
He was addressing a meeting of officials of the Health Department on health sector reforms here on Saturday.
The working group on health for the 12th Plan had identified several focus areas where the State had to make improvements. Stagnation of maternal mortality and infant mortality rates over the past 10 years in the State was a primary area of concern and it was time that the problem was tackled effectively, he said.
Work had already been started on evolving clinical protocols for improving both maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR).
The Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) programme, free distribution of generic drugs, the Janani Shishu Swasthya Suraksha programme (JSSK) were all initiatives which were intended to reduce the cost of care and to ensure equitable access to healthcare, Mr. Sadanandan, pointed out.
The meeting dealt in detail about the initiatives to reduce maternal mortality, Hospital Information Management System (HMIS) initiatives in health sector, cadaver organ donation programme and restructuring of primary healthcare system.
Those who addressed the meeting included Director of Health Services P.K. Jameela; V. Rajasekharan Nair, senior consultant obstetrician; the State Reproductive and Child Health Officer and National Rural Health Mission Programme Manager K.V. Beena, among others.
