HYDERABAD: Telangana climbed a rung to bag third rank in the latest Niti Aayog health index. According to the report titled, “The Health States Progressive India — Report on Ranks of states and Union Territories”, the state improved from its previous fourth rank to be placed third on the overall health index for 2019-20. The report said that Telangana’s example on healthcare is worth emulating by other states and UTs.
Among large states, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana emerged as the top three performers in terms of overall performance. In terms of incremental change too, Telangana witnessed a 4.22 per cent rise in its performance and secured an overall score of 69.96. The highest score secured of 82.20 was secured by Kerala.
In these indexes, the Niti Aayog compared Telangana as the best performer with Rajasthan which termed as one of the worst performers based on current performance and incremental growth. The report also lauded Telangana for universal coverage of full immunisation (BCG, three doses of DPT, measles). The state has also done well in institutional deliveries and TB treatment.
While expressing delight at Telangana’s achievement, Health Minister T Harish Rao tweeted: “Common man in Telangana is receiving best medical care for free. This was possible due to the strengthening of health centres in villages, setting up basthi dawakhanas and super speciality hospitals in towns and medical colleges in all districts. I would like to thank our doctors, nurses, paramedic and entire administration of Telangana in making this possible (sic).”
However, the report also highlights many areas where there is scope for improvement. For instance Telangana’s pregnant women who received four or more antenatal visits has seen a deterioration to 84 per cent. In terms of critical care units in district hospitals, the state fared poorly with none of the district hospitals having these units.
The state also fared poorly on governance and information domain with the Niti report showing that it took 115 days in Telangana to transfer National Health Mission (NHM) funds from the state exchequer to implementing agency, which acts as an impediment to public health initiatives.
The report, however, largely sets Telangana as a benchmark for other states to follow. “Several states and UTs could learn from Telangana on how it covered all district hospitals under LaQshya certification,” the report added.
state fares well on many indices
Telangana’s exemplary performance comes in light of the State doing well on indexes like neonatal mortality rate, under-5 mortality rate, sex ratio at birth, maternal mortality rate and full immunisation coverage, in most of which, it is either an ‘achiever’ or a ‘front-runner’