The Medical Department inducted 136 newly appointed Community Health Officers (CHOs) today at the Capital Convention Hall, Kohima. The officers, belonging to the fourth, fifth and sixth batches of CHOs, will undergo a five-day induction programme.

Addressing the newly inducted CHOs, Dr Thorhusie Katiry, Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM) Nagaland, said CHOs are the caregivers to the community under their jurisdiction and so their first goal is to provide quality health care to the people. He requested the CHOs to live in harmony with the village people wherever they are posted and create an enabling environment in and around their respective Health and Wellness Centres.

The State Program Officer, NHM Nagaland, Dr Mereninla Senlem too stated that the CHOs have a great responsibility toward the people in the villages in providing access to equitable, affordable and quality health care services that are accountable and responsive to people’s needs. She pointed out that the CHOs in their Health and Wellness Centres should provide services not only in Reproductive Child Health and Non-Communicable Disease but also in all the vertical programmes under National Health Mission.

The five-day induction programme will run till 16 September with the newly appointed CHOs attending training sessions on Maternal Health, Child Health, Non-Communicable Diseases, TB, Palliative Care, Blindness Control program, Oral Health, Mental Health and Adolescents Health, among others.

The Community Health Officers will be appointed to different Ayushman Bharat – Health & Wellness Sub Centres across the State. Till now including the recent fourth, fifth and sixth batches, there are 298 Community Health Officers appointed for Health & Wellness Centres across the State of Nagaland.

Ayushman Bharat

Ayushman Bharat (Healthy India) is a national initiative launched by the National Health Mission (NHM).  Following the recommendation of the National Health Policy 2017 to strengthen delivery of primary health care and achieve Universal Health Coverage, the Ayushman Bharat initiative seeks to adopt an approach of a “comprehensive need-based health care service”.

Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) is one component of the Ayushman Bharat initiative, the other being the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY). In February 2018, the Government of India announced the creation of 1,50,000 HWCs. The centres are designed to deliver a range of services addressing the primary health care needs of any given community, such as maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases, free essential drugs and diagnostic services.

(Source: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India)