Health Commission could be wound up

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 22

The state government is contemplating disbanding the Health Commission set up by previous Congress regime as it is felt that the recommendations of the commission were impractical and not very suited for a hilly state like Himachal.

The Health Commission had been set up in August 2014 while the Congress was in power. It was on October 29, 2015 that the commission had submitted its interim report to the government making certain recommendations for bringing about qualitative improvement in the healthcare system. However, not much headway could be made in implementing its recommendations, primarily for want of funds.

“We are contemplating reviewing the setting up of the Health Commission since many of its recommendations do not seem very practical,” said Vipin Parmar, Health and Family Welfare Minister. As such it is being expected that after a formal review the issue for dissolution of the commission could be placed before the Cabinet for approval.

The commission is headed by MK Bhan, former Union Secretary in the Department of Biotechnology. The other members of the commission include Dr Vinod Pathak, Head of Department of Paediatrics at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Dr SK Sharma, former Director of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Chandigarh, Dr Rajesh Kumar, Dr Raj Bahadur and Dr Randeep Guleria.

The main aim of setting up the Commission was to revamp the public health system by strengthening the primary care system with focus on community and home care of children, women and the elderly and those suffering disability. The commission had recommended starting of air ambulance services to overcome geographical constraints, which was termed as too far-fetched.

The recommendations of the Commission included enhancing health budget from two per cent of the GSDP to at least three per cent or more, setting up of a School of Allied Health Sciences near Shimla and a Health Systems Technical Excellence Centre, use of 7,700 Asha workers as strong primary care and acceleration of induction of Rotavirus vaccine along with other vaccines. It had also strongly advocated a mandatory screening of all adults for these lifestyle ailments like hypertension, diabetes and cancer among women.