Between rolling out a largely benign National Health Policy at the start of the year and bringing in Parliament a Bill that would allow Ayush doctors to practice allopathy after a bridge course, the year has not been among the best at the policy level but the government of India’s efforts on the immunisation and TB fronts have been applauded globally.
The draft National Medical Commission Bill that health minister J P Nadda introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday seeks to overhaul the structure of medical education, introduce a medical exit examinations and basically drive the Medical Council of India out of work. It also has provisions that will allow Ayush doctors to practice modern medicine after clearing a bridge course – something that may eventually become one of the biggest hurdles for the passage of the Bill especially in the Upper House where the government does not have a majority.
The new National Health Policy which addresses the current and emerging challenges necessitated by the changing socio-economic, technological and epidemiological landscape, was released after a gap of 15 years. It aims to attain the highest possible level of health and well-being for all at all ages through a preventive and promotive healthcare and universal access to quality health services without anyone having to face financial hardship as a consequence. What defeats its otherwise noble intentions is the fact that the policy stopped short of guaranteeing a right to health and merely repeated platitudes about increasing the budgetary allocation for health to 2.5% GDP.
The year also saw the enactment of the long-awaited HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act, 2017 that aims to end the epidemic by 2030 and safeguards the rights of people living with HIV and affected by HIV.
Besides, the government also ushered in a major shift in the treatment of tuberculosis patients by initiating a “daily drug” regimen across all states under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), in October.
Under this policy, patients will be given fixed drug combinations (FDCs), three or four drugs in a single pill, on a daily basis instead of thrice a week (the intermittent drug regimen) and the dosage will be determined according to the patient’s body weight. The global TB report 2017 brought out by the World Health Organisation lauded India’s increased TB budget.
The Mental Healthcare Bill, 2016, provides for healthcare and services to people with mental illness and also decriminalises suicide. It was passed by the Lok Sabha in March. The Rajya Sabha had cleared it last year.
India’s Mission Indradhanush – a supplementary immunisation programme to raise vaccine coverage in the country – came in for rich praise in a global report card analysing the progress of 15 countries that have the highest incidence of pneumonia and diarrhoea – the two biggest killers of children aged less than five years. The report is annually brought out by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to assess the progress made in these countries in tackling the two diseases.
The year also saw the launch of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) by Prime Minister, under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), aimed at strengthening and widening the immunisation coverage to immunise children who have either not received vaccines or are partially vaccinated.
India’s UIP is one of the largest public health programmes in the world. It targets three crore pregnant women and 2.7 crore new borns annually. More than 90 lakh immunisation sessions are conducted annually.
Under the programme, the ministry also launched the Adult Japanese Encephalitis vaccine, Rotavirus vaccine, Measles- Rubella and Pneumococcal Vaccine.
Among other issues, the last month of the year also witnessed the launch of a country-wide initiative ‘Lakshya’ to ensure proper implementation of the existing labour room protocols in order to reduce maternal and newborn mortality.
Ensuring privacy to the mother-to-be, stressing a comfortable position during delivery, no-tolerance policy for any verbal or physical abuse of the woman and no demand for gratuitous payment by staff are some of the guidelines under the programme ‘Lakshya’.
The ministry also announced transformation of sub-health centres to Health and Wellness Centres to expand the basket of services of primary care to make it comprehensive.
The recently-launched population-based screening of diabetes, hypertension and common cancers represents a massive step in identifying and addressing the risk factors at the community level itself. More than 150 districts are being taken up during 2017-18.
