Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Health is a priority area and finance for this sector has never been an issue for the various programmes run by the Centre, said Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Tuesday (January 28, 2025) ahead of the Union Budget announcement scheduled for Saturday.
The Minister noted that the announcement by the U.S. to exit the World Health Organsation would not hamper the ongoing programmes with the global health agency here in the country.
“Our projects will continue on schedule and while there are many programmes where WHO partners with us, there will be no disruption. India is also a big contributor to the WHO,’’ Mr. Nadda told a press conference held to list the progress in the last 10 years under the National Health Mission (NHM).
Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, Department of Health Research (DHR), noted that the ongoing cluster of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) in Maharashtra was under investigation.
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“Samples have been taken and the NIV, Pune is looking at the possible cause. We are yet to get any definite leads,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nadda, highlighting the Central government’s achievements through the National Health Mission, noted that the share of Central release under the NHM had seen a 185% growth since 2014. The Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme had benefited over 4.53 lakh dialysis patients in 2023-24. The NHM had seen new initiatives added after 2014, including the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Mission and Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PMNDP), while many other initiatives had been reinvigorated like the National TB Elimination Programme, Mission Indradhanush (MI) etc.
The Minister noted that the NHM had engaged over 12 lakh additional healthcare workers between 2021-24.
He said the maternal mortality rate in India declined by 83% (from 556 to 97) since 1990, which was higher than the global decline of 45% (from 385 to 223). The infant mortality rate had declined by 69% from 89 to 28, compared to global decline of 55%, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) had reduced from 3.4 in 1992-93 to 2.0 in 2019-20 (even crossed the replacement level of 2.1) and India demonstrated a higher decline of 75% (from 69 to 32 in 2020) in the reduction of Under 5 Mortality Rate in comparison to the global reduction of 60% since 1990.
Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said the Central government was looking at a pilot roll-out of the HPV vaccine soon. “The modalities are being worked out,’’ she said.
Published – January 28, 2025 11:20 pm IST
