Now an Urban Health Mission on the lines of NRHM: Azad

New Delhi: Maintaining that providing equitable health care to all is its priority, the Government today said it is taking steps to launch an Urban Health Mission in the near future on the lines of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). “The Government of India accords great importance to ensuring equitable health care to all its citizens. The NRHM is an ambitious multi-sectoral initiative taken by the Government of India in 2005-06 to make essential health care available, accessible and affordable to the rural citizens,” Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here today. Inaugurating the two-day deliberations of WHO South East Asian Region’s meeting on Universal Health Coverage, Azad said, “Learning from this experience, we intend to launch the Urban Health Mission in the near future.” [caption id=“attachment_278975” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”]  [/caption] “It is a matter of grave concern that people in our region have the highest out-of-pocket expenditures on health as compared to anywhere in the world. In India, out of the total out-of-pocket expenses, nearly 62 per cent is incurred by the rural populations,” he said. There is sufficient evidence and experience that indicates Universal Health Coverage is a potential tool that can reduce prevalent health inequities, contribute to human development and accelerate the quest for health for all, he said. He hoped international experience in covering populations like disadvantaged, marginalised and hard to reach sections in rural areas would help India. Health experts from the 11 Member States of WHO’s South-East Asia Region met here on 16-17 April to brainstorm about  universal health care in the region. “Equity remains the underpinning principle that we must not lose sight of,” Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO’s South-Asia regional director said. PTI