CHENNAI: After Tamil Nadu slipped from third place in 2015-16 to ninth in 2017-2018 in the health index released by NITI Aayog on Tuesday, Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar said he would write a letter to the Union Health Minister and get a revised report soon.
Speaking to reporters after launching the Simulation Laboratory and TAEI Regional Training Centre at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on Wednesday, the health minister said there were discrepancies in the data. “While there are 9.47 lakh deliveries conducted per year in Tamil Nadu, in the NITI Aayog report, it was stated as 11 lakh.”
“In Tamil Nadu, 99.9 per cent deliveries are conducted in hospitals but NITI Aayog said, 20 per cent are conducted in homes. Among 99.9 per cent, 70 per cent deliveries are being conducted in government hospitals itself. Again, at the National level, Tamil Nadu stands second in the reduction of Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate,” the minister said.
Asked about performance decline in full immunisation, he, “We have over 90 per cent immunisation coverage, but NITI Aayog report said less than 80 per cent. Tamil Nadu is free from polio for the last 14 years. At the national level, it is mentioned as being free from polio from the last 7 years only. Tamil Nadu could achieve this because of the good immunisation performance.
“We have expressed our objection at the Chief Secretary level. A letter was also written by the health secretary. Still, I am going to write a letter to the Union Health Minister and also to the Centre and get revised data. The data is completely wrong,” Vijaya Baskar said.
The NITI Aayog report put Tamil Nadu’s ‘most deteriorated’ indicators as; proportion of low birth weight newborns, integrated disease surveillance programme reporting, proportion of community health centres and the proportion of Primary Health Centres with quality accreditation certificates.
The State’s performance also declined in full immunisation coverage, institutional deliveries, tuberculosis cases notification and vacancies of doctors in PHCs, according to the report. Earlier, the health minister launched simulation laboratory and Tamil Nadu Accident and Emergency Care Initiative (TAEI ) Regional Training Centre and said after TAEI programme was launched in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, death rate due to road accidents reduced from 8.3 per cent last year to 2.7 per cent.