National Health Mission affected by short receipt of grants in Nagaland

March 11, 2023 44 Views No Comment

Mid Term Review of National Health Mission Nagaland held

DIMAPUR, MARCH 11 (MExN): Commissioner and Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Y Kikheto Sema today said that short receipt of grants has not only affected the implementation of the National Health Mission in Nagaland but also timely disbursement of staff salary.

Sema mentioned this during the mid-term review on National Health Mission (NHM) for the State of Nagaland held at Nirman Bhavan, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, New Delhi on March 10 under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary & Mission Director, NHM, Roli Singh, IAS.

During the meeting, Sema stated that, with the implementation of NHM, the overall improvement in the health care delivery service in the State is prominently visible, with lowest IMR and MMR in the country; while improvement in the children immunization coverage, elimination phase of TB cases and Malaria cases and Leprosy cases eradication are some of the few achievements.

However, he stated that over the period of years only 50% of the approved budget by GoI could be availed due to delay in contributing State share.

He informed that there are more than 2,000 employees under NHM with the requirement of about Rs 70 Crore annually. The fund received over the years is just sufficient for salary and resulted in huge committed liability created over the years, he said.

Sema admitted that due to resource constraints of the State, it failed to provide the state share in time resulting delay in releasing subsequent Central Grants by the GOI. He appealed the MoHFW to consider release of subsequent installment even with the pending State Share. The Commissioner and Secretary also requested to release approved budget in two installments instead of the present practice of four installments for the small and hilly States particularly Nagaland for effective implementation of the programme.

On the non- utilization of XV FC grants for Urban and Rural Health Components for the FY 2021-22, Sema stated that, since Nagaland is exempted from the purview of the 73rd Amendment of the Panchayati Raj Institution, the overall Health Sector is looked after by the Health & Family Welfare Department. However, since fund was released to Urban and Rural Departments, the same could not be utilized till date.

Sema stated that, this matter has been discussed at the State level Committee and it was also of the view that the grant be implemented by H&FW which is the Nodal Department.

The Additional Secretary was also of the view that XV FC grants should be implemented by the H&FW Department of the State since it pertains to the Health Sector. She agreed that for smaller states like Nagaland, they would try to release the approved budget in two installments instead of four. The Ministry has by and large approved the proposal placed by the State Government and advised the State Government to release the State Share in time to enable the Ministry to release the entire approved budget.

Sema was accompanied by Dr Ritu Thurr, MD, NHM and other officials.