Union Health centres in poor condition

According to an assessment made by the Directorate General of Family Planning and USAID, most of the 3,590 Union Health and Family Welfare Centres (UHFWC) across the country are in dire need of more resources in order to facilitate normal delivery and essential newborn care services. More than six hundred facilities categorised as C lack adequate physical infrastructure, staff, supplies and equipment while about twenty five hundred of them, classified as B, require medium to moderate level of inputs. Some centres, reportedly, do not even have electricity or running water.

The consequences have been disastrous. More than 60 percent of the child deliveries were conducted at home in 2014. The out of pocket (OOP) health expenditure of the country now stands at 63 percent of the total health expenditure, which is much higher than that of global average of 32 percent. The OOP health expenditure pushes four to five million people into poverty every year, while many of the poor fail to receive minimum healthcare from the government facilities.

The UHFWC is a good idea gone awry. What is the rationale behind setting up such people-friendly health complexes around the country and then not monitoring and following up their performances? The Ministry of Health should be more committed to providing basic healthcare services at the grass root level by reviving the union health centres. Steps should be taken to develop more skilled midwives. Doctors should be trained and incentivised to work in rural areas.