Union Health Minister releases AB-HWC assessment report in 18 states

Image credit: PIB

Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, released the findings of a third party assessment of Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWC) in 18 states of India, in the presence of Dr Vinod Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog and Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, in New Delhi.

Appreciating the findings of the report, Dr Mandaviya stated, “Third party evaluation is important for proper assessment of the functioning and implementation of the scheme."

The assessment of AB-HWCs in 18 states has been done in two phases by non-governmental entities, GRAAM and JHPIEGO as well as AIIMS, New Delhi from the government sector for the year 2020-21.

The following are the key findings of the report: 

• The launch of AB-HWC has enabled translation of the vision of moving from selective to comprehensive primary health care package enunciated in the National Health Policy 2017.
• The implementation of AB-HWC scheme is on track in most states with a clear roadmap for achieving targets set for December 2022.
• Overall, there has been an improvement in equity in access, despite existing constraints such as infrastructure availability and status of peripheral health facilities.
• Effective communication was noted from district to PHC-HWC and SHC-HWC resulting in translation of policy decisions into action, faster and better.
• Client satisfaction with the services provided was much higher among those who received services from HWCs as compared to those who received services from non-HWCs across all the four parameters measured – treatment, medicines, diagnostics and cleanliness.
• The Evaluation also brought out requirement of a definite timeline for rolling out all the services packages. The timelines have now been fixed.