Topic of the Day - National Health Resource Repository Project

India’s first-ever healthcare establishment census to collect the data of all the private and public health care establishments, known as the National Health Resource Repository (NHRR) Project was launched by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The project aims at strengthening evidence-based decision-making and developing a platform for the provider-centric services and the citizens by designing a strong, secure and standardized IT-enabled repository of the health care resources in the country, aligned with the Digital India Mission.

Aspirants can find information on the structure and other important details related to the IAS Exam, in the linked article.

Significance of NHRR

• The National Health Profile is a very important tool as it has helped in designing various programs such as free drugs and diagnostics and Mission Parivar Vikas.
• In recent years, India has shown substantial progress on several indicators. India’s national health indicators like Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Maternity Rate (MMR) and Total Fertility Rate (TFR) are declining faster than the world’s pace.

Key Benefits of National Health Resourse Repository

• The project would create a reliable, unified registry of Country’s healthcare resources showing the distribution pattern of health facilities and services between cities and rural areas.
• It would generate real-world intelligence to identify gaps in health and service ratios and ensure judicious health resource allocation and management.
• It would also identify key areas of improvement by upgrading existing health facilities or establishing new health facilities keeping in view the population density, geographic nature, health condition and distance.

Read in detail about the World Health Organisation (WHO) – Origin, Functions, Role on the linked page. 

The Central Bureau of Health Intelligence has ensured the engagement with key stakeholders including private healthcare service providers, leading associations and allied ministries for the census. The census will be carried out under the Collection of Statistics Act 2008. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would be taking care of the data security and is the technology partner for the project.

• Data of over 20 lakh healthcare establishments including clinics, hospitals, doctors, diagnostic labs, pharmacies on over 1400 variables will be captured in the NHRR.
• NHRR will help in making available, comprehensive, authentic, standardized and updated geo-spatial data of all the private and public healthcare establishments and other resources, including Railways, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), defence and petroleum healthcare establishments.
• Advanced research towards the existing and forthcoming challenges arising out of determinants of health, such as the environment and various diseases could be made possible because of this resource repository.
• It would enable formulation of realistic State Project Implementation Plans by enhancing the coordination between the central and the state governments for the optimisation of the health resources.
• NHRR ensures data accessibility at all the levels thereby decentralizing decision making at the district and the state levels.

Candidates can go through the following links to prepare comprehensively for the upcoming Civil Services exams –

Multiple Choice Questions

I) Consider the following statements

1. Article 21 of the constitution of India guarantees every citizen the right to live with dignity and protection of personal liberty.
2. Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that every person has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family. This includes food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services.
3. The Supreme Court has also held that the right to live with human dignity as described in Article 21 is derived from the Directive Principles of State Policy and includes the protection of health.
4. “Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana” is being implemented with the objective of removing imbalance in the availability of reliable and affordable health care facilities in different parts of the country

Choose the correct answer from below given options

A) Only Statements 1 and 2 are false.

B) None of the above given statements are false.

C) Only Statements 1 and 4 are true.

D) All the above given statements are false.

Answer: B

II) Consider the following statements

1. Ayushman Bharat Scheme is the world’s largest initiative related to public health care.
2. Under the ‘Jan Aushadhi Yojana’, quality generic medicines are being made available at affordable prices to all individuals in collaboration with the state governments.
3. The Government in April 2018 launched the “Nikshay Poshan Yojana” a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme to provide nutritional support to TB Patients.
4. According to the findings of India state level disease burden initiative, under-nutrition contributed to more than two-third of under-five deaths in India. 

Choose the correct answer from below given options

A) Only Statements 1 and 2 are false.

B) Only Statements 2 and 3 are true.

C) None of the above given statements are true.

D) All the above given statements are true.

Answer: D

Candidates can find the general pattern of the UPSC Civil Service Exam by visiting the IAS Syllabus page.

Aspirants can find complete information about upcoming Government Exams through the linked article. UPSC exam-related preparation materials will be found through the links given below.