National Health Mission continues to face neglect!

 National Health Mission continues to face neglect!

National Health Mission (NHM) is the key program through which the Union Government intervenes

in improving primary and secondary care on maternal and child health, disease control programs and

non-communicable diseases. Many of these services have suffered during the lockdown. However,

since 2019-20, NHM allocations have been declining in real terms. This means that essential services

like safe deliveries, vaccination for children, and treatment of TB provided earlier can no longer be

provided with limited resources.

NHM money also goes into paying remunerations for frontline health workers like ASHAs, mostly

women- who received global recognition for their stellar role during the pandemic. Cuts in the NHM

budget mean a reduced budget for paying these workers, who have been demanding minimum wages

for a long time. It is important to note that some of the most critical programs related to Non-

communicable diseases, climate change, and human health are being delivered through NHM, and

paltry allocations under these schemes are major causes of concern.

We need to expand the network of Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs) to ensure quality

comprehensive primary care. HWCs are part of the NHM budget. In the context of considerable budget

cuts for NHM, the plight of HWCs also remains unclear! We have also been demanding that the new

name – Arogya Mandir - given to HWCs should be withdrawn.