A Study on Healthcare Infrastructure for Children in Karnataka

Abstract

The major objective of this article is to take stock of the overall healthcare infrastructure for children in the district hospitals in the state of Karnataka. Governmental healthcare initiative in India can be traced back to the year 1951. Interestingly, India was the only country in the world to launch a Family Planning Programme intended to reduce population growth. This was renamed as Family Welfare Programme in 1977. Thereafter, in 1983, the National Health Policy was institutionalised with the objective of reducing Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Neo Mortality Rate (NMR) and Child Mortality Rate (CMR) by the year 2000. Concurrently, programmers like Prevention of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) and Oral Dehydration Therapy (ORT) came into existence in the country. As follow-up of these major initiatives, in the year 1997, a specific programme called Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) became operational in all the districts of the country. As a result of these initiatives, over the years, India has been able to cross a major milestone in reducing IMR, NMR, as well as CMR. According to latest NFHS-3 (National Family Health Survey) report, the IMR, NMR and CMR rates in the country are 57, 39 and 18 respectively. However, the progressive state of Karnataka has always registered lower IMR (43.2), NMR (28.9) and CMR (12.1) than the national average. The present investigation is based on the information collected from children outpatient departments of the district hospitals in Karnataka.