Govt to spend Rs 352 Cr for strengthening health systems in next 5 yrs

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 16, 2021

Minister in-charge Health & Family Welfare Alexander Laloo Hek on Tuesday said the state government will spend Rs 352 crore within the next five years for implementation of the Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project (MHSSP).

“Government of Meghalaya has initiated the MHSSP in collaboration with the World Bank in which it aims to infuse around Rs 352 crore (70% from the World Bank and 20% from the state govt) in a span of at least 5 years to contribute for the overall health sector development in the state,” Hek told the Assembly.

He was replying to a call attention notice tabled by Mawsynram legislator Himalaya Shangpliang on the issue.

“The state government is investing Rs 75 crores in the first phase to upgrade the civil infrastructure of health centres such as district hospitals (DHs), community health centres (CHCs), primary health centres (PHCs) and sub-centres (SCs),” he said.

The minister informed that the MHSSP will function under the direction of the project steering committee (PSC) headed by the chief secretary and will be implemented by a project management unit (PMU) & HEN in the department of Health & Family Welfare, headed by Joint Secretary, who is notified as the Project Director of PMU.

There are district level committees (DLCs) headed by the Deputy Commissioner with the respective District Medical and Health Officer as the Member Secretary.

He said the gap analysis was conducted at the district level by the committees headed by the Deputy Commissioner in identifying health facilities which require upgradation, renovation and new construction.

According to him, these health facilities were mapped based on different parameters.

Highlighting the expected outcomes from the HSSP, the minister said, “We are trying to address the core issues that are plaguing the state’s health scenario.”

The project also aims at achieving reduction in infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal maternity ratio (MMR) to national average and towards sustainable development goals (SDG), increase in number of government health facilities with quality certification, reduction of stockouts of essential medicines in government facilities, increase in number of outpatient utilizing government health services at primary level and increase in number of in-patients utilizing government health services at first referral level.