Mangaluru: The Draft Public Health Bill 2017 has been tabled for discussion by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India as per suggestion by the Center for Health and Development (CHD Group) which is headquartered in Mangaluru.
Karnataka has sent a recommendation to the Union Health Minister J P Nadda and Under-Secretary Ajaya Kumar to make the existing draft more robust by revising and addressing certain issues which will come handy for bureaucratic interpretation as well. CHD Group has asked the Ministry to encourage research and development and also requested the ministry to put a clause which can train public health cadres like field epidemiologists, disease control specialists and public health administrators in every state who can act as interface with bureaucracy. The letter also points out that efforts to curb bio-terrorism is visionary, but there is paucity of public health institutes working in these areas and very minimal number of universities and hospitals really equipped to address these issues. CHD Group recommends that through the directions of the Medical Council of India, bio-terrorism can be brought into medical curriculum for appropriate discussions and training.
CHD Group goes ahead to point out that the bill lacks clarity on how district hospitals should respond and how public health institutions and civil society organisations must aid government efforts to improvise public health prospects. The letter goes on to discuss how disasters have been incorporated in the bill and the bill not addressing the nature of disasters in the Schedule and Annexure, if at all. Moreover, with Ministry of Home Affairs being the nodal point for Disasters and the Disaster Management Act 2005 already in place, is including disasters really necessary, can be an open question. Having a dedicated financial capital to address issues at a district level will go a long way to implement the bill more effectively. CHD Group has been pioneering efforts in public health risk reduction initiatives around the region. More can be followed on www.facebook.com/chdefforts
