Nagaland Health Minister, P Paiwang Konyak and a team from the NHP met the Country Director, World Bank, Auguste Tano Kouame at World Bank Office, New Delhi on May 19.
‘Health is a complex issue and it cannot be solved in a year or two but as steady progress is made, funding and assistance of externally aided projects should continue’
DIMAPUR, MAY 19 (MExN): Nagaland Minister for Health & Family Welfare Department, P Paiwang Konyak along with the State’s Commissioner & Secretary, Y Kikheto Sema, IAS; and a team from the Nagaland Health Project (NHP) met the Country Director, World Bank, Auguste Tano Kouame, on May 19 at the World Bank Office, New Delhi.
The Minister thanked the World Bank for its support to Nagaland, especially in the health sector where the NHP was successfully implemented, and extended till December 31, 2023. Paiwang spoke on the issues and challenges in the health sector and appreciated the bank for the successful implementation of the NHP as the improvements made under the project are visible.
He also highlighted that the funds received under various schemes from the Government of India are mainly for specific programmes, and the NHP’s funding could cater to the gaps not covered by other programmes. “Health is a complex issue and it cannot be solved in a year or two but as steady progress is made, funding and assistance of externally aided projects should continue,” he said. He appealed to the World Bank to provide continuous support.
Kikheto Sema meanwhile highlighted that Nagaland could not avail enough EAPs as compared to the other States. He thanked the World Bank for funding the projects in Nagaland in the sectors of health, education and agriculture &allied activities. Kikheto stated the proposed new project of the Nagaland Health System Strengthening Project (NHSSP) is mainly to fill the gaps in the infrastructure of health centers, quarters for health workers, etc.
The desire of the State Government to provide affordable, accessible health care to its citizens cannot be fulfilled without good infrastructure facilities, he stated. He, therefore, requested the World Bank to support the new project and stated that the partnership between the Government of Nagaland and the World Bank should continue.
Auguste Tano Kouame appreciated and congratulated the team on the successful implementation of the Nagaland Health Project. He further stated that although he has taken over as Country Director recently, he has been briefed about the successful implementation of the NHP and thanked the Government of Nagaland, Department of Health & Family Welfare. With the successful implementation of the NHP, he stated that the bank would be interested to support the new NHSSP project and assured that it would recommend the same to the Government of India.
Auguste suggested that the proposed project could assist the state to generate fiscal revenue, mobilize private sector through PPP mode, and generate employment through pre-service training, etc. He further suggested conducting virtual meetings with other states and countries which are being funded under the World Bank to showcase the good practices of the Nagaland Health Project.
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