Preeti Sudan, Secretary (H&FW) recently inaugurated the three days Capacity Building Workshop for Regional Offices of Health & Family Welfare (ROHFWs) at Nirman Bhavan.

She appreciated the role played by Regional Offices in coordinating with State Authorities especially in the most recent case of the Kerala floods in 2018.

She said “Regional Directors must extend requisite technical support to state agencies in implementation of National Programmes and should focus of ROHFWs on operationalizing Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) under Ayushman Bharat. Regional Directors should approach concerned authorities in States towards expediting posting of trained mid-level providers in all states.”

She interacted with Regional Directors and asked them to involve themselves in State activities and become part of State conversations through State specific groups of the Ministry.

While reviewing UP and Bihar, she advised the Regional Directors to work on containment of JE/AES and immunization in Uttar Pradesh; control and elimination of Kala-Azar in endemic districts of Bihar; and combating HIV/AIDS  in Nagaland.

Dr. S. Venkatesh, DGHS was also present at the workshop. He highlighted the crucial role played by RoHFWs in the control of Nipah and Zika outbreaks in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh/Rajasthan respectively.

He said “clarity in roles of Regional Directors is required for contributing effectively and efficiently to National Programmes and new initiatives of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW).”

At present 19 ROHFWs are operational in the country for the past 40 years and there is requirement of 10 more offices for better work across the country.