Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that the evaluation of the state's public health institutions has shown "encouraging" results. Five years ago, Assam began 'Gunotsav' to conduct a citizen-led evaluation of public schools, which had shown extraordinary results, he said at the Swasthya Seva Utsav Conclave here.
"Pursuing the same principles, we replicated the idea of Jan Bhagidari to assess public health institutions via the Swasthya Seva Utsav. It is heartening to share that the results are extremely encouraging", the chief minister said.
From April 6 to 8, the Swasthya Utsav was held for the first time in the state to evaluate 1,245 hospitals. In Indian Public Health Standard, 2022, 12 per cent of the hospitals of the state got Grade A, 49 per cent of health facilities secured Grade B and 39 per cent Grade C.
"Since the bulk of the hospitals are in Grade B, these can be upgraded to Grade A with some help from the health department," he said. The chief minister also said there was sufficient clinical evidence to suggest that one organ donor can save up to seven human lives.
"We will scale up this effort as we want to create a robust organ transplantation ecosystem in Assam", he added. Several state ministers, including Health Minister Keshab Mahanta, and Environment and Forest Minister Chandramohan Patowary, were present on the occasion.
