The Mission Steering Group (MSG) of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has approved a proposal of Ayush department for partial modification of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for development of Ayush hospitals and dispensaries for mainstreaming of Ayush under NRHM.

Union minister of health and family welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday chaired the seventh meeting of the MSG, the highest decision making body of NRHM that takes decisions on the policies and programmes under the Mission. Vilasrao Deshmukh, minister of rural development and panchayati raj, Kapil Sibal, minister of human resource development and telecom, Sayeeda Hameed, member, planning commission, secretaries of various departments, health secretaries of state governments and eminent public health professionals attended the meeting.

The meeting approved for Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura and 3 Hilly States (Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir) a one-time assistance towards non-recurring expenditure up to Rs.45 crore (i.e. Rs.7.5 crore/state) and Rs.9 crore (i.e Rs.1.50 crore/state) towards recurring expenditure for setting up of Ayush hospitals shared by the Centre and the State on a 85:15 basis. For the remaining 5 NE States (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim and Meghalaya), a one-time assistance upto Rs.12.70 crore (i.e Rs.2.54 crore/state) and recurring assistance of Rs.2.35 crore (i.e Rs.0.47 crore/state) for setting up of 10 bedded integrated Ayush hospital on 85:15 centre: state share basis was approved. It was further decided that the funds allocated under Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Development of Ayush hospitals and dispensaries will be utilized for financing the said additional components.

The MSG also approved conducting of District Level Household Survey (DLHS) - 4 in those States where Annual Health Survey (AHS) is presently not being done. IIPS, Mumbai is designated as the Nodal Agency. IIPS will also do the required pooling of data from AHS and DLHS-4 household survey to arrive at National Estimates and prepare the National Report. Further, the Facility Survey will also be conducted in all states.

The MSG while reviewing action taken on its earlier decisions noted that though it had sanctioned Rs.100 crore to Jammu and Kashmir for setting up 200-bedded maternity hospitals at Jammu and Srinagar respectively, there has not been much progress. Therefore, MSG decided that the Government of India will now get these two hospitals constructed, for which a provision of Rs.124 crore will be kept during this financial year.