Govt plans steps for population stabilisation

The government today said it was in the process of making a comprehensive programme on population stabilisation in consultation with the state governments but does not want any legislation to implement it.

"While we are making all efforts to improve health care, time has come for all of us to think and accord priority to population stabilisation," Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said at a function to commemorate five years of the National Rural Health Mission.

However, he said, "I would like to make it clear that Government doesn't want to achieve this through any legislation."

The minister said population stabilisation could be achieved by stopping child marriage, delaying the fist child after marriage and increasing the gap between two children.

"We are in the process of making a comprehensive programme on population stabilisation in consultation with the state governments," Azad said, adding it would be the NRHM which would respond with appropriate family planning counselling and services at cutting edge level.

The Health Minister said though the NRHM has seen many success stories, at present there was a need to change the focus and adopt an area-centric and area-specific approach.

This will take health care to the door steps of the people living in remote and undeserved areas, he added.

He asked the states to identify difficult, most difficult and inaccessible areas so that additional monetary and HR incentives could be provided to ensure availability of resident health workers in such areas.

"I urge the state health ministers to have inter-ministerial committees constituted at the state level under the chairmanship of Chief Ministers, in order to ensure, not only higher state allocations in all these sectors, but also the judicious utilisation of resources given by the central government," he said.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, who was also present at the function, said results from the National Rural Health Mission should not be expected to be like a 100 metres race but a marathon race.

Ansari gave away prizes for best performing states in NRHM to Haryana, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.

"NRHM was necessitated by the extremely poor primary health care system in the country earlier," he said.