Centre cautions states against 'wastages' in public health system

New Delhi: The Government on Thursday cautioned states against "wastages" in public health system and asked them to increase their health spending "significantly".

Emphasising that one of the key areas of concern was quality of healthcare in public health system, Union Health Minister JP Nadda said that healthcare needs to be patient centric where "dignity" of the patient is also respected.

Nadda said that the Centre was committed to "cooperative federalism" and it will work with the states as "true partner" and support them financially and technically to strengthen their health systems.

"The states must increase their healthcare spending as the government also tries to supplement their efforts," he said during the second meeting of the Mission Steering Group (MSG) of National Health Mission (NHP).

"The health minister also cautioned the states against wastages in public health system while stressing the need for collective effort to improve the efficiencies," a Health Ministry statement said.

Nadda said that decentralisation lies at the heart of the health sector reform process under NHM as also a consciousness that the principles of federalism and "subsidiary are paramount".

"The government is committed to the concept of cooperative federalism wherein the Centre will work with the state governments as true partners and support them financially and technically to strengthen their health systems," he said.

Nadda noted that the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) form the basis of the Ministry's effort at health system reform. He also hoped that in implementing NUHM, the states would incorporate learnings from NRHM, to rapidly scale up implementation.

"While we will continue to strengthen the NHM approaches, there will be shift in emphasis based on our learning from various evaluations and Common Review Missions," he said.

Urban Development minister Venkaiah Naidu, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, HRD Minister Smriti Zubin Irani, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik were also present during the meeting.

Nadda said that providing assured and comprehensive health services will be the foremost priority of the Ministry. "The ministry will provide an assured set of services encompassing preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative healthcare," he said.

He said that the Ministry proposes to give a major thrust to improving quality of healthcare in public facilities. Nadda assured the members of the Steering Group that their valuable suggestions to further enrich and strengthen the NHM will be discussed and incorporated.