SHILLONG, OCT 6: When the MDA government took charge in 2018, Meghalaya’s health report card was scary – 8,000 to 9,000 infants dying every year. That is how Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar summed up the starting point of the NPP-led government.
He was speaking at Nongspung on Tuesday at a campaign organised by NPP Mawphlang block for Shillong Lok Sabha bypoll candidate Dr DRL Nonglait.
“When we took over in 2018, we checked health data. It was disastrous. Infants were dying not less than 8000-9000 in a year. No proper health facilities, no medicines, no doctors. As a Cabinet we said this cannot continue,” Dhar said.
He said the government then asked itself a basic question – what is the point of building roads and schools if children keep dying? That question led to the Chief Minister’s Motherhood Scheme, he said.
“CM launched the scheme only for our mothers. Now every mother when pregnant informs us so we can take care. Government has placed ASHAs to check every household, to reach hospital at right time,” Dhar said.
The scheme, which has seen hundreds of crores spent to ensure safe childbirth, has been flagged by the Prime Minister as one of the best health policies, he claimed.
Dhar said the change is visible on the ground beyond health too.
“These are just small examples. Every nook and corner now has CHC, sub-centre. Not only education, not only roads,” he said.
On drinking water, he said tap connections in rural Meghalaya were just 10,000 before JJM.
“Now after JJM, within 8 years, more than 4-5 lakh households have got water at home. These are facts,” he said.
