A new initiative called ‘Public Health towards Villages' is going to be launched in the State to strengthen healthcare in every village.
Under this plan to be started in a few days, the Department of Public Health is issuing orders to its district officials to hold weekly review meetings at the village health sub-centre level and understand the requirements of local people by deputing the field staff.
S. Elango, Director of Public Health, told The Hindu here on Sunday that the decision to “introduce a new roadmap for public health” was taken at a State-level review meeting of the Health Department held in Chennai on March 4.
“We have explained the proposal to Health Minister M. R. K. Panneerselvam and Principal Health Secretary V. K. Subburaj. They had given consent to implement this idea which is aimed at involving the village people in public health issues,” he said.
The pattern of review meetings in Health Department will be changed by moving from the usual State/district level meetings to village health sub-centre level to know the ground situation better. According to Dr. Elango, some health sub-centres in the State were not functioning up to the desired level and hence the mode of review is being changed to bridge the gap.
For every 30,000 population, there are six health sub-centres. So far, their performance is being reviewed at district level meetings only through the medical officers of Primary Health Centres.
“By launching the ‘Public Health towards Villages', we are confident of activating the entire rural health network of 8,600 health sub-centres and 1,539 Primary Health Centres in the State,” the Director of Public Health said. Dr. Elango said that the proposed village-centric model of review will help in better monitoring of implementation of public health activities and schemes.
Focus will be given to key issues such as maternal and child health, village sanitation, infectious diseases, maternal deaths, nutrition status, utilisation of funds given under State and Central schemes, implementation of State government schemes such as Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Assistance Scheme and the overall maintenance of health sub-centre.
“Health staff in every district will be sensitised on the needs of rural people. This will be a major next step in public health activities of the Tamil Nadu government and we have asked the field staff to be alert to public requirements,” the Director said.
