Lok Sabha Question No. 2209 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-15
Subject: Health Facilities in Tribal Areas
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Guman Singh Damor

## GOVERNMENT OFINDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2209 TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.12.2023

## HEALTH FACILITIES IN TRIBAL AREAS

## 2209. SHRI GUMAN SINGH DAMOR:

Will the Minister of HEALTHANDFAMILYWELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) whether despite higher incidence of water-borne and other diseases in tribal areas, health facilities are not at par with the national average; and

(b) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a) & (b): National Health Mission (NHM) envisages universal access to equitable, affordable & quality health care services that are accountable and responsive to people's needs by supporting the States/UTs in providing financial and technical support for accessible, affordable and quality healthcare, especially to the poor and vulnerable sections in urban, rural, and tribal/hilly areas.

Under NHM, tribal areas have following relaxed norms addressing the need-based intervention in terms of healthcare infrastructure and human resources:

- The population norms for setting up health facilities in tribal areas has been relaxed from 5,000, 30,000, and 1,20,000 to 3000, 20,000 and 80,000 for setting up of Sub Centre, PHC and CHC in tribal and hilly areas.
- Against norm of one ASHA per 1000 population in normal area, one ASHA per habitation in Tribal/hilly and difficult areas.
- Against the norm of 2 MMUs per district in plains, 4 MMUs per district in tribal/ hilly/ inaccessible/ remote and hard to reach areas.

Under Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) launched on 15th November 2023, further relaxation in NHM norms has been provided to the PVTG areas as under:

- Maximum 10 MMUs per districts with PVTG areas.
- Provision of one additional ANM on Multi Purpose Centres (MPCs) and making available basic drugs and diagnostics in the PVTG areas.

In terms of infrastructure development, thrust has been given to reduce the gap in availability of health facilities, particularly in Tribal areas. Overall, there has been 49.4% increase in Health Facilities available in Tribal areas as compared to 9.1% increase in all India, between 2005 and 2022 (As per RHS 2022) as shown below:

| Type of Facility   | All India   | All India   | All India   | Tribal Areas   | Tribal Areas   | Tribal Areas   |
|--------------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
| Type of Facility   | RHS 2005    | RHS 2022    | % Increase  | RHS 2005       | RHS 2022       | % Increase     |
| SHCs               | 1,46,026    | 1,57,935    | 8.1%        | 16,748         | 25,383         | 51.5%          |
| PHCs               | 23,236      | 24,935      | 7.3%        | 2,809          | 3,833          | 36.4%          |
| CHCs               | 3,346       | 5,480       | 63.8%       | 643            | 960            | 49.3%          |
| Total              | 1,72,608    | 1,88,350    | 9.1%        | 20,200         | 30,176         | 49.4%          |

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