Govt sets in motion formation of Village Health Councils in M’laya

SHILLONG, March 15: The government has got the ball rolling for the formation of Village Health Councils (VHCs) across Meghalaya with block officials in East Khasi Hills becoming the first ones to receive training under a first-of-its-kind training programme.
According to a statement, the trainings, which will be imparted in other districts, are being conducted by the Health department and are supported by the National Health Mission, Meghalaya, in collaboration with departments of C&RD and Social Welfare.
The training programme for the block officials in East Khasi Hills was held between March 14 and 15 at MIIT, Shillong.
“Day 1 of the workshop focused on building Village Health Councils as strong community institutions for initiating community action on health & nutrition, purpose and membership, structure of VHCs as well as group discussions and idea sharing exercises from the participants. Day 2 of the VHC workshop focused on the collaborative approach of sector teams at the block level and their importance in building VHCs and in solving local health & nutrition challenges. Important success stories and positive outcomes of the sector meetings in improving institutional delivery as well as saving the lives of mothers and infants were also shared with the participants. Sessions on making action plans as per priorities as well as diligently following them up, was also given to the trainees,” the statement said, adding, “Following these VHC trainings, the trainers will, in the next few weeks, make a plan for the VHC formation process in their respective blocks.”
Addressing the first batch of the VHC trainees, Mission Director, NHM, Ram Kumar, informed that a training of such calibre was held 15-16 years ago for the formation of Village Employment Councils (VECs) across Meghalaya.
“Similarly, VHCs are envisioned to bring about a revolutionary change in not only the uptake of public health service by the communities but more so, towards attainment of the objective of increased life expectancy of residents in the State. The VHCs will formalise the role of communities in addressing health issues, while also strengthening the state to manage future pandemics or health eventualities,” he said.
Principal Secretary of Health department, Sampath Kumar, in his address to the participants, said that the VHCs will help address the demand-and-supply gap in public health service delivery.
“The VHCs will help to generate demand for the health services, in tandem with the government’s efforts to also address supply side challenges. The idea is to bring a sense of ownership among the people about solving problems that are often left unidentified or unaddressed,” he said.
Kumar also added that the state, through the VHCs, will be able to achieve the overall objective of increasing the lifespan of the people of Meghalaya, which is currently below the national average.
Others who spoke during the programme were CEO of Meghalaya State Rural Livelihood Society (MSRLS), Ramakrishna Chitturi, Director of Social Welfare Department, Dikki D Shira, among others.
It may be mentioned that the establishment of VHCs in every village and urban localities (Dong level) in Meghalaya has been envisaged as a key means to improve community engagement in the healthcare system, in a bid to achieve the goals of the State Health Policy.
“VHCs will be local bodies dedicated to creating an enabling atmosphere for extending the provisions of the MOTHER policy to the last mile, and positively impacting people’s health-seeking behaviour, while increasing life expectancy of the state as a whole,” the statement said.