NHSRC & RRC-NE team visits state

A four-member team from the National Health System & Resource Center (NHSRC), New Delhi and Regional Resource Center-North East (RRC-NE) visited Nagaland from July 10-12.
A press release by National Health Mission (NHM) Nagaland stated that during their visit, the team, consultants, Dr. Poonam, and Munitatat from NHSR, New Delhi; consultant, Dr. Priyanka from NHSRC, New Delhi and Sagarika Klita from RRC-NE, Guwahati, called upon commissioner and secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare (DoHFW) Nagaland, Y.Kikheto Sema and principal director Dr.Vibeituonuo M. Sachu and officers of the department.
Interacting with the officials of the department, Dr. Poonam said their visit was to understand and support the state in creating public health cadre.
She also appreciated the existing service rule of the department where the state was divided into different category and manpower being posted in the entire category prior to their promotion.
Dr. Poonam stressed on the formation of state task force for creation of public health cadre in the state under the chairmanship of the commissioner and secretary, DoHFW.
During the interaction, Kikheto Sema said Nagaland faces a “huge challenge” in health sector especially due to the geographical and topographical uniqueness of the state.
In a state like Nagaland, he said it was difficult to follow the Indian Public Health Standard (IPHS) due to many factors especially that of, shortage of qualified manpower and the state being unable to create more post.
Kikheto requested the government of India to consider the constraints of the region while planning policies since whatever was applicable in the mainland would not be practical for the hilly area.
He informed that the state was working towards providing cashless health care through the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS) and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).
Kikheto also highlighted that the state was in the process of reviving communitisation by involving community, NGO for better delivery system for which he also sought government of India’s support.