SCHEME OF ASSISTANCE TO DISABLED
PERSONS FOR PURCHASE/FITTING OF AIDS/APPLIANCES (ADIP) GAINS POPULARITY
Union Minister for
Health and Family Welfare, Shri Shatrughan Sinha has said that
Government gives high priority to the implementation of Family
Welfare programmes in the country for achieving population stabilization
or substantially improving health status in the Empowered Action
Group (EAG) States. The Government has increased the budget for
Family Welfare programme to Rs. 5000 crore during the current
year and efforts should be to put the resources to optimum utilization
to achieve the stated objectives. The Minister was addressing
the 3rd Business Session of EAG States on Population
Stabilization, here today.
Highlighting
the initiatives taken for strengthening the programme implementation
in EAG States, the Minister informed the gathering that Prime
Minister has agreed to be Chairperson of the Governing Body of
the National Population Stabilization Fund (NPSF). The NPSF is
a fund which has been set up for supporting new initiatives and
to act as a catalyst for filling critical gaps not possible under
the available budgets. It is proposed to utilize these funds in
the EAG States and later extend to cover other under-served areas
of the country. The Minister expressed that the Government would
be able to attract additional resources from industry and private
sector into the Fund to bring in greater synergy between the efforts
of Government and civil society for implementing the Family Welfare
Programmes.
The
Minister said that the Department is willing to provide more funds
for the EAG States and look forward to State Governments developing
the required capacity so that they can absorb these additional
resources. Besides increasing the capacity for absorbing funds,
the State Health Department should utilize this opportunity for
consolidating the health delivery sectors in their respective
States.
Shri
Shatrughan Sinha told that from the current year onwards, the
Government will be fully funding the sub-centres established for
every 5000 population as per 1991 Census. In exchange, the Rural
Family Welfare Centres and the Post Partum
Centres for which financial support was being given by the Central
Government are now handed over to the State Governments to manage.
This is an important policy initiative as it is now possible for
the EAG States to ensure that for every 5000 population, the services
of a qualified Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) are made available
to the communities. In areas where the ratio of ANM and population
is adverse, the Government is providing funds to appoint additional
ANMs on a contractual basis specifically for places where the
geographical area is widespread or population density very high.
In
order to enhance access to health services, an attempt is also
being made to consolidate efforts for inter-sectoral coordination
and social mobilization through the participation of NGOs. The
Ministry of Education, Women and Child Development, Rural Development
and Youth Services have indicated their readiness to work towards
a convergence of programmes. Rationalizing of the recording of
target families, registration of births and deaths and extending
communication through use of electronic systems is yet another
area to be given priority along with implementation of Family
Welfare Programmes in coordination with the Gram Panchayats and
peoples’ representatives, the Minister stated.
Expressing
concern over the rapid increase in the number of female foeticide
in several parts of the country, the Minister said that the child
sex ratio in the age group 0-6 years of some of the States/Uts
is a matter of concern for all of us. Inordinately low sex ratio
of below 850 is recorded in all 17 districts of Punjab, 17 out
of 19 districts of Haryana. Though in the EAG States child sex
ratio is more than 900, yet this practice of female foeticide
needs to be curbed and controlled. Certain amendments to the PNDT
Act, 1994 have been approved by the Cabinet to incorporate certain
emerging technologies like selection of sex prior to conception
as well as those in current use, which are being misused for pre-natal
determination of sex of the foetus. A Bill to this effect has
already been laid in the Parliament in the last session.
It
may be recalled that in order to facilitate
the preparation of area-specific programmes, with special emphasis
on states that have been lagging behind in containing population
growth to manageable
limits, the Government has constituted an Empowered
Action Group in the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare. The States included in it are Orissa, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh
and Jharkhand.
