Task Force Submitted Report to Chief Minister

• 01 Jul 2022

Why in News?

• On June 30, 2022, the head of the task force set up to reduce maternal and child mortality in Madhya Pradesh, Prof. Shamika Ravi submitted the final report to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Key Points

• It is worth mentioning that the Government of Madhya Pradesh has been in the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. The task force was constituted in the month of January last under the chairmanship of Shamika Ravi. The task force has submitted the report on the scheduled period of June 30.
• Implementation of the recommendations of this report of the Task Force will help in reducing the mortality rate of mothers and infants.
• NITI Aayog has placed Madhya Pradesh in the category of good performing states in the SDG India Index report, which is a sign of good work has been done in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of health in Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh took special initiative by forming a task force as compared to other states.
• The report of the Task Force consists of seven chapters. These include the role of nutrition, monitoring of health data, study of health care and resources, improvement in the care of infants and mothers, current status and background, expenditure on health and improvement in this sector through good governance and other measures are included.
• The Report also contains suggestions relating to elimination of malnutrition among children and addressing the shortage of physical infrastructure and resources for better outcomes in the field of maternal and child welfare, infant supplements, regular immunization, prevention of diseases, expansion of blood bank facilities, referral system for newborns and transportation facility.
• Apart from this, the efforts of the Madhya Pradesh government to provide malnutrition, health education and rituals to the children of Anganwadi centres and the campaign run by the people's cooperation under the leadership of the Chief Minister are mentioned.
• The maternal mortality rate in Madhya Pradesh is declining at a rate of 5.8 percent, while the national average is 7.5 percent. Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, the infant mortality rate is declining at a rate of 0.6%, while the national average rate is 3.8%.
• The Task Force has identified 5 key areas to achieve the goals in the field of maternal and child health, which are as under:
  • Regular review at governance level: Regular review is useful in eliminating the shortcomings to improve the overall system of public healthcare in Madhya Pradesh.
  • Physical Infrastructure and Resources: This Report provides one such roadmap. This includes reforms such as ending preventable maternal mortality frameworks and packages along with the India Newborn Action Plan. The report also analyses the availability of resources as per the population.
  • Nutrition: The report states that malnutrition has a negative impact on the health of mothers and babies. The anemia is worrying. Efforts should be made to bring good results by intervening as per the suggestion of UNICEF for the determinants of malnutrition. Along with the consumption of well-nourished diet, the emphasis is on prevention of diseases through vaccination, food security, complementary feeding system and related publicity.
  • Finance Arrangements: The report on expenditure incurred in the health sector by Madhya Pradesh has advised to increase the assistance to the lower strata of the society, financial assistance for OPD care in the form of family health account. The report also suggests creation of a Health Outcome Fund.
  • Data access: The report highlights the need for data entry, backend validation and timely identification of problems in improving the data architecture. Anmol, Samagra, Contact and Nutrition Tracker; All these data are portal guidelines. With these, the state government is using data to secure the health and nutrition services provided to the beneficiaries and use it to ensure the accessibility of the schemes. The present challenges of data systems have also been highlighted in the report.
• The Task Force has made specific recommendations for various reforms, which ensure better public services for civic health and nutrition.