BHUBANESWAR: Amid the Covid-19 pandemic that exposed the decrepit health infrastructure in the state, Odisha has also posted a big slide in overall health indicators.
As per the fourth round of the health index report released by NITI Aayog on Monday, Odisha has slipped by two ranks compared to the previous year to be placed at 14th among the 19 larger states.
“Odisha had the steepest decline of two positions, while the ranking of Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttarakhand declined by one position each,” the report stated.
The state has been categorised among aspirant states including Bihar, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh and Assam.
The NITI Aayog said the health index score reduced mostly due to worsening of overall health outcomes, lowest reporting of disease surveillance data, full immunisation coverage and health administration. The state scored a measly 44.31 out of 100.
Though Odisha has been categorised as an achiever in maternal mortality ratio, it is still an aspirant in indicators like neonatal mortality rate (NMR) and under-5 mortality rate, which are critical indicators of child survival.
The NMR has declined by only 13.89 per cent (pc) (from 36 in 2014 to 31 in 2018) and U-5 mortality rate dropped to 44 from 60 during the period. Of more concern is the decline in sex ratio at birth in the state. It has declined to 933 from 953.
The state is also among the bottom three states in terms of full immunisation coverage, which has declined from 88.03 pc in 2014-15 to 85.61 pc in 2019-20. Registration of birth has also dropped from 93.9 pc to 82.2 pc during the period. At 70 pc, Odisha recorded the highest decline in integrated disease surveillance data reporting.
Odisha slips to 14th rank
The institutional delivery has also declined from 77.24 pc to 75.85 pc and notification of TB came down from 67.65 pc to 64.59 pc. However, TB treatment success rate of new microbiologically confirmed tuberculosis cases improved by around one pc from 87.76 pc to 88.4 pc.
The NITI report indicated that the state was the worst performer in governance, information, key inputs, processes, health systems and service delivery indicators. In terms of stability of tenure of district-level administrators, the average occupancy of the district chief medical officer or equivalent post for the three-year period between 2017-20 varied between 5.2 months in Odisha to about 21.9 months in Kerala and Assam. Odisha registered the highest decline of -47.9 pc in average occupancy of district CMO positions.