Plan Board moots Public health Cadre

The Kerala State Planning Board has called for formulating a comprehensive State Act - The Kerala State Public Health Act – and establishing Public Health Cadre for improving the quality of health services in the state. The two existing Public Health Acts – The Madras Public Health Act 1939 and the TC Public Health Act 1955 – need to be unified for formulating the comprehensive State Act, according to a report of the Planning Board Expert Committee on Health.

The report has come out at a time when the government's move to establish a Public Health Protection Agency has evoked criticism from the medical Fraternity. The government is for an Agency rather than establishing a Public Heath Cadre and Public Health Department, whcih has been widely crirticised. The experts have stated that the Agency would not be a substitute to Public Health Cadre and Public Health Department, which has already been envisaged in the National Health Policy and adopted by several states.

The Expert committee was formed to deliberate on the various challenges faced by the State’s Health System and the strategies to be adopted during 12th Five Year Plan. The report of the expert committee has been circulated to Ministers, MLAs and MPs. It has recommended that steps should be taken to bring in the unified Act in the legislature at the earliest.

Source: The New Indian express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/432664/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/06-02-2015#page/4/1

Kerala's moves for a Public Health Agency criticised

The government's move to establish a Public Health Protection Agency has evoked criticism from the medical Fraternity, which maintains that it will not be a substitute to Public Health Cadre and Public Health Department envisaged in the National Health Policy, which has been adopted by several states.

With the emerging/reemerging of many diseases and health indices pointing out that Kerala has not made any advancements for the last ten years, many of the doctors and health experts were for creating a separate Public health cadre and public health department. The government has mooted the Agency to guide the Health Department for improving and protecting public health, mainly focusing on prevention. But experts point out it will be a futile exercise and will not have any major impact.

While mooting the Agency, the government had pointed out that Public Health did not pertain to health department alone but involved the active involvement of other departments like water resources, social welfare, education and LSGD. As such a separate Agency will help in coordinating the works related to public health. Though the experts agree that coordination of departments was needed, they said that an Agency or any coordination unit/agency will not be a substitute to Public Health Department and Public Health Cadre. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Orissa and Gujarat have already established public Health Departments.

Agreeing that inter departmental coordination is needed for improvement of public health, Indian Medical Association, Kerala, president Sreejith N Kumar said ''Coordination can be called by any name like Public Health Protection Agency or some other name. But an exclusive department for public health is inevitable in the raising threat of emerging/reemerging of many diseases.''

Source: The New Indian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/376154/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/17-11-2014#page/6/1