Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government has made it mandatory to have a Mobile Medical Unit for each block under National Health Mission;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the details of assistance given to the State Governments for providing Mobile Medical Units and operating these units under the scheme, State/UT wise?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)
(a) & (b): No. Under NHM, States/UTs have been given flexibility to deploy Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) to provide a range of health care services for the populations particularly living in remote, inaccessible, un-served and underserved areas, as per the needs identified by the respective States/UTs.
(c) : Public health and hospital is a State subject. Under the National Health Mission (NHM), Government of India provides financial and technical support to States/UTs to strengthen their healthcare systems, including support for Mobile Medical Unit (MMUs), based on the requirements posed by them in their Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs), subject to availability of resources.
However, under NHM, as per norms, one MMU is supported per 10 lakh population subject to capping of 5 MMUs per district. However, further relaxation of norms is available on a case to case basis and where patients served though existing MMUs exceed 60 patients per day per MMU in plain area and 30 patients per day per MMU in hilly areas.
Further the list of operational MMUs supported under NHM in States/UTs as on December 2020 is placed at Annexure.