DIMAPUR, OCT 27 (MExN): The Government of Nagaland might be forced to postpone/reschedule its Rural Community Health programme on account of the Centre still dallying whether to grant the Rs 150 crore action plan for 2005-2006 to implement the National Rural health mission.
Sources told The Morung Express that the State Health Ministry would be taking up the request for approval to the said proposal at the meeting for Ministers from the North eastern states scheduled on November 8 at Guwahati. The plan, with an appendage for a grant of Rs 150 crores to implement the National Rural Health Scheme has been view as too ambitious considering it was only for a single state, according to a government official while adding that the community health programme, initially slated to have held around October could be delayed with the request for the said amount still yet to pass through the Center’s approval. The National Rural Health Mission was launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in April this year and till now most of the states in the country have been reported to have implemented the rural health undertaking except for some states like Nagaland. The State’s Health Minister Dr TM Lotha could not be contacted for comment however a senior official confirmed that the state could not “introduce” the rural health mission due to “factors of economy and other financial constraints”.
