Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will convene a special meeting of the National Development Council to discuss issues relating to health care, disease control and public health. However, the date of the meeting is yet to be finalised.

This was disclosed at a meeting chaired by him today to take stock of the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The Prime Minister urged state governments to pay adequate attention to health care issues and ensure efficient functioning of public health services. He also emphasized the need for greater investment in medical education, including nursing, especially in states where there is an acute shortage of seats in nursing and medicine.

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Anbumani Ramados presented a detailed outline on action taken till now and identified three categories of states in terms of the implementation of the NRHM. The best performing states so far have been identified as Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and Tripura.

The average performing states have been identified as Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab and Uttarkhand.

The states, which have so far not performed well in the implementations of NRHM programmes, are Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland and Uttar Pradesh.