As envisioned by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Swasthya Sewa Utsav, a one-of-its-kind initiative in the country to be conducted for Government Health Institutions on the lines of Gunotsav by the Department of Health & Family Welfare.
As per the National Health Mission (NHM) Assam, the Department is leaving no stone unturned for its smooth implementation in all the identified Health Institutions.
The Swasthya Sewa Utsav will be held from April 6 to 8, 2023.
In this regard, MS Lakshmi Priya, Mission Director, National Health Mission, Assam chaired a final review meeting with all the District Teams for the upcoming Swasthya Sewa Utsav through a VC.
Priya advised all the districts to gear up for a suitable launch event and to be alert to mitigate any adverse situation. During the VC, Dr Priya also informed all the districts that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt of India is keen to take away the key learnings from this exercise which has been initiated by the Health Department of the State, so the districts were instructed to work as a team and make it a success.
It may be noted that the External Evaluators consisting of senior IAS Officers/ IPS Officers/ ACS Officers has been deputed to all the districts for assessment of the Health Institutions during this Utsav. The team for external evaluators will comprise of two assessors; one the Hon’ble Member of Parliament/ Member of Legislative Assembly/ Seniour Officers of various Departments and the other will be Faculties/Doctors/Post Graduate students of Medical Colleges.
The Swasthya Sewa Utsav will be conducted with the objective of providing quality healthcare services across the State covering 1252 Government Health Institutions (21 – District Hospitals, 16 – Subdivisional Civil Hospitals, 205 – Community Health Centres and 1010 – Primary Health Centres).
The Govt Health Institutions will be assessed on infrastructure, human resources, and service delivery.
There will be a pre-defined checklist against each category of Health Institutions for the evaluators to complete the assessment of the facilities within the above mentioned 3 days. Total 450 teams will be engaged during the 3 day Utsav.
The primary objectives of the Utsav are to provide comprehensive health care services to the community by assessing the gaps, to make the health facilities IPHS compliance, to create and share sustainable practices related to key areas of concern in public health facilities linked to positive health outcomes, to promote cleanliness, hygiene and infection control practices in public health facilities, to reduce infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio and to reduce out of pocket expenditure of the public.
It is mentionable here that chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had launched the official logo of the Swasthya Sewa Utsav at Janata Bhawan, Dispur on March 29, 2023 in the presence of state health minister Keshab Mahanta, MS Lakshmi Priya, Mission Director, National Health Mission Assam among others.
