Question : Village Health Workers

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Union Government has taken cognizance of the reports on West Bengal Government''s decision to train informal health care providers, referred to as quacks and acknowledge them as Village Health Workers;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the reaction of the Union Government thereto indicating the kind of training that is likely to be offered;

(c) the number of informal health care providers across the country, State/UTwise;

(d) whether the Union Government proposes to formulate a standard training module to train informal health care providers in basic health care; and

(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA)

(a) & (b): As per the information received from the Government of West Bengal, the Government of West Bengal has decided to provide formal training to the Informal Healthcare Providers for skill development. It has been decided that.
1. At the initial year the objective is to train and educate Informal Healthcare Providers.

2. Trained Informal Healthcare Providers would be acknowledged as Village Health Workers with clear delineation of the care that they can provide.


3. They shall be clearly asked to stop using the doctor prefix. They can be recognized as a team member of the public health team at the village level.

4. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) shall be prepared in consultation with clinical pharmacologist, physician, surgeon and administrators.



5. State level and District level committees will be constituted to monitor the training programme of the Informal Healthcare Providers and also to regulate them after imparting training.

Union Government does not determine the nature of training. However, the practice of informal healthcare providers will be subject to extant laws.

(c): This data is not maintained centrally.

(d) & (e): Currently, there is no such proposal under National Health Mission.