Guwahati: Swasthya Sewa Utsav, a one-of-its-kind initiative in the country, and an event on the lines of Gunotsav in the state, will be conducted across government health institutions by the Assam health and family welfare department from April 6 to 8.
According to official sources here, the primary objectives of the Swasthya Sewa Utsav are to provide comprehensive healthcare services to the community by assessing the gaps, make the health facilities IPHS (Indian Public Health Standards) compliant, and to create and share sustainable practices related to key areas of concern in public health facilities linked to positive health outcomes.
Besides, the three-day event also aims to promote cleanliness, hygiene and infection control practices in public health facilities, reduce infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio and and minimise out of pocket expenditure of the public.
For its part, the state health and family welfare department is leaving no stone unturned for smooth implementation of the three-day programme across all the identified health institutions.
Ahead of the event, National Health Mission, Assam mission director Dr M.S Lakshmi Priya, chaired a final review meeting with all the district teams for the Swasthya Sewa Utsav through a video conference on Wednesday.
The NHM Assam mission director advised all the districts to gear up for a suitable launch event and to be conscious in regard to mitigation of any adverse situation that might arise.
During the video conference, Dr Priya also informed all the districts that as the Union health ministry is keen to take away the key learnings from the exercise, which has been initiated by the state health department, the districts have to work as a team and make the event a success.
Notably, the external evaluators, comprising senior IAS, IPS and ACS officers, have been deputed to all the districts for assessment of the health institutions during the programme.
The team for external evaluators will comprise two assessors – an MP, MLA or senior officers of various departments – while the other will be either a faculty member, doctor or post graduate students of medical colleges.
The programme will be conducted with the objective of providing quality healthcare services across the state, covering 1252 government health institutions (21 district hospitals, 16 sub-divisional civil hospitals, 205 community health centres and 1010 primary health centres).
EASTMOJO PREMIUM
Help sustain honest journalism.
The government health institutions will be assessed on infrastructure, human resources and service delivery.
There will be a pre-defined checklist against each category of health institutions for the evaluators to complete the assessment of the facilities within the three days of the Utsav.
Altogether, 450 teams will be engaged during the programme.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had launched the official logo of the Swasthya Sewa Utsav at Janata Bhawan here on March 29, 2023, in the presence of in the presence state health and family welfare minister Keshab Mahanta and senior officials of the health department and National Health Mission Assam.
Also Read | Assam: Rights group asks PM to look into ‘corruption’ in NRC update