Imphal West at second spot on Health Development Index in India
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, January 31 2015 : Imphal West District of Manipur stood second position in India on Health Development Index according to the latest data available at National Survey Sample Office.

The index is based on datas of currently married women, like if they were 18 at the time of marriage, if they received post natal care within 48 hours, used contraception, were aware of HIV/AIDS, and if their last two children between 12 and 23 months of age were fully immunized.

Addressing a press conference in connection with this achievement at the office of Health Directorate at Lamphelpat on Saturday, Okram Ibomcha, State Health Director said that work is in progress for other districts of the State to score high in the Health Development Index as well.

A view of Imphal City : Pix - Deepak Oinam

He said that in the next two-three years, Manipur will have enough doctors.

As per the guidelines of World Health Organization (WHO), there should be one doctor for every one thousand population.

But as of now, the State has the ratio of 1:1100 (one doctor for one thousand and hundred people).

Altogether there are 2429 Allopathy Doctors and 540 Ayush Doctors.

With the inclusion of Ayush doctors, Manipur has the right ratio of WHO.

The Director further informed that there is one nurse for every 260 people in Manipur, which is a good number.

India as a whole has one nurse for every 2450 people.

This is one reason why Manipur has scored best Infant Mortality Rate or stood second after Goa in the last few years.

Ibomcha, who is also the Director of NHM, continued that the State Cabinet has already given its nod to improvement in the Tertiary health care sector under which a new hospital will be established in Imphal area.

Specialist doctors who pass out from Manipur need to get employment in the State itself and the two existing medical institutes namely JNIMS and RIMS cannot meet the demands.

So, the proposed new hospital will help in filling this gap.

The Director also disclosed that efforts are on to convert all Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres as 24 /7 delivery points.

The Director appealed to the public including village chiefs and civil society organizations to give full cooperation to the newly posted doctors.

It may be noted here that counseling for posting of newly recruited doctors in the hills and valley districts had been conducted some days earlier.