HP govt likely to scrap state health commission: Minister

We are reviewing the state health commission and will decided soon whether it is needed or not. HP has done a commendable job in even without a health commission VIPIN PRAMAR, state health minister

DHARAMSHALA: The Jai Ram Thakur-led Himachal Pradesh government is likely to dissolve the state health commission, which was constituted by the previous Congress regime.

We are reviewing the state health commission and will decided soon whether it is needed or not, state health minister Vipin Singh Parmar said on Sunday.

Himachal has done a commendable job in the health sector even without a health commission, he said, adding that the government will bring comprehensive changes in its structure and functioning which will be beneficial to the state.

The commission was constituted in 2014 to develop inter-sectoral strategies required to address environmental, nutritional and social determinants of health as a part of the overall development of the state, among other things.

It was also to give recommendation to develop an affordable healthcare model given the severe budget slashes in the health sector by the Union government and formulate guidelines for opening health institutions in the state.

However, no meeting of the commission has been held ever since the BJP government came into power.

The commission submitted its first and only report and recommendations related to the required changes in health infrastructure in December 2015.

Prominent recommendation it had given was to set up a healthcare model which was to be run like a trust— that would fully fund the expenses that otherwise the patients had to be bear on their own.