Hailakandi witnesses sprucing up of health infrastructure, improvement in services

Feb.18: Over the past four and a half years, South Assam’s aspirational Hailakandi district has witnessed sprucing up of health infrastructure and improvement in health care services.

The SK Roy Civil Hospital which has a bed strength of 100 has seen a major renovation with funds received from the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Meanwhile, construction of new 20 bedded wards with water supply connections at the district hospital has been completed. This, too, has been done by the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited under CSR.

New Community Health Officers’ quarters are coming up at Kundanala, Dumcherra and Gutguti Sub Centres with funding from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The public sector multinational crude oil and gas company has also funded the construction of Kundanala and Gutguti Sub Centres with prefabricated steel structures. Funded by ONGC, infrastructure development of new primary health centre (NPHC) at remote Gharmura (Monipur) is going on in order to meet Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS). “As envisaged under the National Health Mission, the public health institutions in rural areas are to be upgraded from its present level to a level of a set of standards called the Indian Public Health Standards,” said a health official.

Three numbers of Sub Centres at Bakrihawar, Itarkandi and Bor Hailakandi have been converted into health and wellness centres for better health care facilities in the district with funds from the North Eastern Council. In terms of health care services there have been significant improvement in key indicators. Immunisation has gone up to 81.23 per cent, institutional births to a healthy 90.83 per cent, up from 56.5 per cent in 2015-16, ante natal check up to 83.68 per cent together with 81.39 per cent mothers who had at least four ante natal care visits for the period 1st April 2020 to 31st January 2021. 2,99,655 patients were treated at OPD and 18,510 at In-Patient Department and 339 deliveries done through Caesarean Section during the same period.

As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), the institutional births at public facility have gone up from 51.9 per cent in 2015-16 (NFHS-4) to 75.1 per cent in 2019-20 and minimum four numbers of ante natal care visits from 34.5 per cent to 43.1 per cent in the same period.