Only 76% of kids fully immunized in Karnataka: Study

BENGALURU: Only 76% of children (in the 12-23 month age group) have been fully immunized, while only 68.7% of pregnant women have received the mandatory three antenatal checkups, an analysis of the public healthcare system by the

Karnataka Knowledge Commission

has revealed.

At a time when the Karnataka government is training its guns on the private healthcare sector, the many glaring gaps in access to safe abortion services and care of sick neonates pointed out by its own think-tank, have turned out to be an embarrassment for the authorities.

The findings are part of the Karnataka Public Health Policy 2017, recommended and submitted to the government by the Commission last week.

Technology is still a distant dream in most government rural health care centres, where registers are manually maintained, the report said. A string of urban-rural inequities and regional inequities has also been identified.

Seven districts in state’s north—Yadgir, Kalaburagi, Raichur,

Koppal

, Ballari, Bidar and Bagalkote—and

Chamarajanagar

in south have poor health indicators, compared to most other districts.

For example, the average population coverage of a PHC in Raichur is 41,842, as against 30,000 prescribed by Indian Public Health Standards, whereas it is 19,027 in Tumakuru.

There also exist regional disparities in the distribution of infrastructure at secondary and tertiary levels. While in Tumakuru, a First Referral Unit (FRU) is available for a population of 2,97,938, in Raichur, there is one for a population of 3,84,954.

Critical facilities, number of specialists fall short of norms

Seetha.Lakshmi@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru: Critical facilities such as blood banks and storage units, intensive care units, dialysis and trauma care, counselling services and enhanced laboratory facilities are still lacking, and not in line with Indian Public Health Standards or other national norms in most government secondary and tertiary care facilities. This is especially true in North Karnataka, the Karnataka Public Health Policy 2017 recommended by the Karnataka Knowledge Commission has said.

The shortage in the number of specialists has gone up from 32% to 39%. The distribution of health workers is also highly skewed in favour of urban areas and the private sector, it said.

Stating that vulnerable communities in the state continue to have poor access to health services, the commission noted that in line with infrastructural issues, variation in services can be seen across the state. For instance, institutional delivery rates vary from 98.9% in

Udupi

to 70.8% in Koppal district, while coverage of full immunization varied between 93% in Tumakuru and 56% in Yadgir.

Integrate health systems, suggests panel

The Karnataka Knowledge Commission told the government that there is an urgent need to create a pluralistic health system, in keeping with people’s preferences and aspirations.

Human resource gaps at the primary health care level need to be urgently addressed by Ayush workforce integration, development of paramedical workforce training and upgrading MBBS doctors to intermediate specialists, it has recommended.

Government health services shall provide care under all systems of medicine. Existing health sub-centres should be converted into Health and Wellness Centres (HWC) not just in name but in spirit and practice. “The goal of HWCs would be to address the social determinants of health such as poverty, gender-based inequalities, water and sanitation, child under-nutrition and others, and seek convergence at the village level across all departments, rather than merely following an illness-based approach. It should be a cafeteria approach,” pointed out Dr Issac Mathai, Health Task Force member.

Stressing the need for credible and voluntary graded accreditation systems such as the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH), to ensure that government hospitals and private healthcare services comply with an acceptable quality standard, the state should ensure that all hospitals, public and private, undergo a process of accreditation in order to ensure that standards of care are of an expected level, the commission said.

“The commission batted for an inclusive and participatory approach that ensures that all stakeholders in the health sector are involved in its further development,” chairman of the Knowledge Commission Dr K Kasturirangan said.