Shifting the focus from selective to comprehensive primary healthcare, the Meghalaya government has begun the process of framing guidelines for achieving ‘comprehensive primary health care’ (CPHC) that is universal, free and close to the community.
National Health Mission (NHM) Meghalaya, in collaboration with the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi, organized a three-day writeshop, which concluded here today, on drafting CPHC guidelines for Meghalaya.
The purpose of the writeshop was to bring together all the key stakeholders in the health system and engage them in framing guidelines in a manner that is consultative and participatory.
Group-based activities were conducted to deliberate on health issues, mapping of care pathways and care packages to ensure efficient and appropriate interventions are delivered. This entailed analyses of existing gaps pertaining to human resources, financing, information systems, referral networks and community participation.
The first two days of deliberations were invested with community members, self-help groups, frontline health workers and programme managers of the Departments of Health and Family Welfare, Social Welfare (ICDS) and Community and Rural Development (National Rural Livelihood Mission).
The final day sessions were chaired by Principal Secretary in the Health Department, Sampath Kumar, and was facilitated by Dr Mekhala Krishnamurthy, senior fellow at CPR New Delhi under the guidance of Dr T Sundararaman, Rajeev Sadanandan. The two have years of experience in health policy-making, community-centred responsive and adaptive healthcare delivery systems at the state and national level.
