Health minister reviews
preparedness regarding
Dengue & Chikungunya
The Union Minister
for Health and Family
Welfare, Mr J P Nadda
held a high level
meeting to review the
preparedness of the
Ministry and Central
Government Hospitals for
prevention and control of
dengue and chikungunya
in the country. During
the meeting, Mr Nadda
asked the States for
mounting aggressive IEC
campaigns to enhance
awareness on prevention
and control of vectors in
their surrounding areas
and neighbourhoods.
Mr C K Mishra, Secretary
(Health) and other senior
officers of the Union
Health Ministry, National
Vector-Borne Disease
Control Programme
(NVBDCP), National
Centre for Disease
Control (NCDC) were also
present in the meeting
along with Directors/
MS from the Central
Government hospitals.
Taking stock of the
situation, Mr Nadda
was briefed on the
preparations of the
Health Ministry and was
informed that advisories
have already been sent
to all States as early as
January for strengthening
their preparedness before
the dengue season. The
officials further informed
him that teams of experts
from the Ministry have
visited many States to
review their preparedness
and advised them suitably.
The Central Government
hospitals informed that
they were adequately
equipped to combat
dengue and chikungunya
during this season.
0.03% hike in public
health budget, govt aims
2.5% of GDP by 2025
The National Health
Policy, 2017 envisages
public expenditure on
health to increase to
2.5 percent of the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP)
in a time bound manner
by 2025. In the meantime,
the government says it
has increased the budget
allocations for the health
mildly as compared
to the last time.
The revised estimate for
2016-17 and budget
estimate for 2017-
18 under National
Health Mission are
Rs 20,037 crore
and Rs 21,940 crore
respectively.
cells. We were thrilled
when this research
was started in India.
Sadly, due to a lack of
incentives, willingness
and support the research
has come to a stand
still,” says Gagandeep.
A statement showing
expenditure on health
by Government of India
as well as States/UTs
and as the percentage
of GDP for 2015-16
(RE) and 2016-17 (BE)
shows the comparative
increase of 0.03 percent.
Mentoring frontline
health workers as
the champions of
NCD prevention
The burden of NCDs in
India, particularly, has
grown exponentially in the
recent past. Expanding
BIOVOICENEWS.COM
75