The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has downgraded Uttarakhand in its index of health services. The Aayog has kept the State in the list of 14 States that have performed poorly on various parameters of providing health services. The immediate fall out of the low score on the report card of NITI Aayog is that the National Health Mission (NHM) has decided to cut the incentive offered by it to the state. In the recently released Health System Strengthening- Conditionality Report of the States—2018-19, the NHM has penalised Uttarakhand by giving it  -8 points. In the report,  Dadar and Nagar Haveli is placed at the top among all the States while second position is bagged by Haryana.

Assam, Kerala and Punjab are at third, fourth and fifth positions respectively. Uttarakhand is placed at 30th position in the table.

The NHM report is based on seven parameters like improving incremental performance based on NITI Aayog report, operationalising  health and wellness centres, implementing human resource information system (HRIS), grading of district hospitals, mental health services in districts, screening of 30 plus population for non communicable diseases and rating of Primary Health Centres (PHC) on their functionality.

The negative achievement of the State has ensured that the State would not be able to lay its claim on full incentive offered by the NHM for improving its health services. The Union Government has put aside a sum of Rs 3,265 crore of the NHM funds for disbursement to the States on the basis of their performance on set of conditionalities.

The officials of health department are now claiming that the state got poor grading because the NITI Aayog report on health services was given a maximum weightage of 40 which resulted in slide of the State.

They claim that since the Aayog had rated the state on the basis of factors like availability of doctors in state health services and it had based its report on the data of the year 2017-18 where only 900 doctors were there in health services against vacancy of 2,700. Similarly another focus area of the Union Government was setting up of health and wellness centres while Uttarakhand focused more on strengthening its district hospitals.

The officials also point out that the state achieved 105 percent immunisation but somehow that achievement was not given due credit. Irrespective of these explanations and claims of the health department that the state would fare well on these parameters in coming days, the report clearly shows that lot of work is needed to be done in the health sector.

The Health secretary Nitesh Jha said that the report is being studied. Details have been sought from the department officials in the state and necessary measures will be taken on the basis of that.