SRINAGAR: The State Government has formulated a comprehensive action plan to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to a single digit by the year 2020 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Health and Medical Education Department prepared the action plan with technical support from Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) teams for which a Technical Expert Committee has been constituted, which had members from Paediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynaecology departments of GMC Srinagar and Jammu.
The Action Plan enlists the community and health facility-based interventions for accelerating rate of decline, which includes Birth preparedness, Home Based Newborn care, Mothers Absolute Affection (MAA), Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF), Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), VHNDs and IMNCI.
A requirement of Rs. 154.47 crore has been worked out for the implementation of the Strategies to reduce IMR by 2022.
During the current fiscal Rs 23.06 crore stand approved under NHM for implementation of the existing and new strategies which also include two Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) at Government Hospital Gandhi Nagar Jammu and SKIMS Bemina, Neonatal ventilators and CPAP machines for high caseload SNCUs, six new Family Participatory Care Units for District Hospitals of Udhampur, Samba, Ramban, Leh, Lal Ded Hospital Srinagar and CHC Kupwara; four new Paediatric Emergency Rooms at SMGS Jammu, GB Pant Srinagar, DH Pulwama and DH Kathua.
Besides, new Oxygen Concentrator Plant is also being established at Government GB pant Hospital Srinagar for which an amount of Rs 1.15 Crore has been approved during current fiscal under NHM.
