The Health Minister launches “Mera Aspataal / My Hospital” initiative

New Delhi, August 30, 2016: Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched the “Mera Aspataal / My Hospital” initiative at the third National Summit on Good and Replicable Practices and Innovations in Public Health Facilities at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking on the occasion, the Health Minister stated that for any innovation we must think of scale, skill and speed as has been said by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. “Patient satisfaction is the ultimate test for assessing quality of services, provided by a healthcare facility. To further build upon the gains so far, we are now making a paradigm shift and expanding the programmes from grassroots upwards to build the continuity of care” stated Shri Nadda while launching the new initiative.

Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste, Hon’ble Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Kamineni Srinivas, Minister of Health, Medical and Family Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh were also present at the occasion, along with other senior officials.

The Health Minister informed that the ICT-based Patient Satisfaction System (PSS) “Mera Aspataal / My Hospital” for implementation in public and empanelled private hospitals, is envisaged to empower the patient by seeking his / her views on quality of experience in a public healthcare facility. He further added that a multi-channel approach will be used to collect patients’ feedback i.e. web portal, mobile application, Short Message Service (SMS), Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). “I am sure that ‘Mera Aspataal’, together with the Kayakalp awards, as part of “Swacchata Abhiyaan” will spur the States in a spirit of friendly competition to get highest ratings for all their facilities”, the Union Health Minister added.

Shri Nadda reiterated that under the guidance of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, the Ministry has launched the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matriva Abhiyan (PMSMA) to provide fixed day assured quality ANC services to pregnant women on the 9th day of every month across the country. “These services will be provided by obstetricians and physicians. A key pillar of this program is voluntary partnership of private doctors. Hon’ble Prime Minster has appealed to the private sector to join in and contribute their services for providing antenatal care to poor pregnant women,” Shri Nadda elaborated.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Nadda stated that persistent and intensive focus on maternal and child health has yielded dividends. Besides sustaining India’s polio free status, India has successfully validated Maternal & Neonatal tetanus elimination in May 2015, well before the global target date of December, 2015. “What is noteworthy is that India’s Under-5 Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Ratio declined at a higher pace than global average,” Shri Nadda added.

The Health Minister further said that the Free Drugs Services Initiative, the Free Diagnostics Services Initiative, the District Hospital Strengthening support, roll out of comprehensive primary health care, Quality Assurance Programme and the Kayakalp awards – all represent initiatives intended to reduce fragmentation of care, improve quality of care and reduce out of pocket expenses.

Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare stated that he is very delighted to know of the health schemes run by various states and how they are benefitting so many people, despite the many challenges they face. Shri Kulaste added that this summit is a good platform to share experiences and collectively strategize on how to improve health services in the country.

Appreciating the National Health Mission, Shri Kamineni Srinivas, Minister of Health, Medical and Family Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh, stated that health of Indians has taken a big leap with NHM. The Minister highlighted various steps taken for pregnant women, reducing Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Rate and reducing out-of-pocket expenditure for the patients. He also appreciated the Centre’s help for free drugs and diagnostics for the poor and telemedicine schemes. “There is an overall improvement in hospitals. We must learn from each other and improve our strategies collectively,” the Minister said.

Shri C K Mishra, Secretary (HFW) said that let us try to do something different and stressed on the need to learn from experiences. The Health Secretary added that the ‘how to’ has to come from within us. He further said that this is an occasion to celebrate our successes and move ahead to complete the unfinished agenda.

The Union Health Minister also released operational framework on management of common cancers, Guidance Note for Outsourced Call Centre for tele-consultation, grievance redressal and providing information about schemes. The Health Minister also gave away awards to the states on the basis of Health Indicators and Service Delivery. The best performing large states for decline in IMR was given to Haryana and West Bengal. In this category the best performing small states were Nagaland and Tripura. Similarly, for service delivery in public health facilities Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were awarded amongst large states and Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh were awarded amongst small states. Best performing Union Territory was Dadar and Nagar Haveli.

Dr. (Prof) Jagdish Prasad, DGHS, Dr A K Panda AS & MD (NHM), Smt. Poonam Malakondaiah, Principal Secretary to Government, Health, Medical & Family Welfare Department, Andhra Pradesh and other senior officers of the Health Ministry were also present on this occasion.