The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been catalytic in bringing about a perceptible change in the overall health scenario of the country, by bringing down the crude birth rate and infant mortality rate over the years, claims the progress report made by the present Congress-led Government on the completion of three years.

The crude birth rate (CBR) at the national level at 22.1 in 2010 declined by 1.7 points over 2005 while the  crude death rate during the same period declined by 0.4 points.  infant mortality rate (IMR) has registered a decline of 3 points from previous year and was 47 per 1000 live births in 2010. The total fertility rate (TFR) also declined by 0.1 and stood at 2.5 in 2010, the report card said.

In order to further reduce barriers to institutional care for pregnant women and sick new born, a new initiative named ‘Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram’ was launched in June 2011. No wild polio case has been reported in the country since January 2011 owing to immunization drives. The World Health Organisation (WHO) taken India out of the list of polio-endemic countries.   There is declining trend in morbidity and mortality due to malaria in high endemic States.  Mortality due to kala-azar has shown a declining trend.  The total number of reported dengue cases was also lower in 2011 as compared to 2010, the report said.

“A bill to set up National Commission for Human Resources for Health (NCHRH) has since been finalized and has been introduced in Parliament. The NCHRH is envisaged as an overarching regulatory body for the health sector, to reform the current framework and to enhance the supply of skilled personnel. Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) envisaged construction of 6 AIIMS-like institutions in the first phase at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh. Construction of medical college complex at all the six sites is in full swing and the medical colleges are expected to be functional from academic session 2012-13,” it said.