Committing to engage in a long-term technical collaboration that will enable the Government of Rajasthan to accelerate progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the World Health Organization Country Office for India and the state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 5 May 2015 at Jaipur, Rajasthan.
This MoU represents a broad framework for technical collaboration between WHO India and Government of Rajasthan based on the identified priority areas of cooperation. Under the terms of the agreement, WHO India will provide broad technical support to the state for addressing priority health challenges through selected health system strengthening interventions, such as designing innovative health financing mechanisms, improving quality of care and building on best practices and lessons learned from the state’s free medicines scheme.
Presiding over the function, Mr Rajendra Singh Rathore, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of Rajasthan said, “The state government of Rajasthan looks forward to a successful collaboration with the WHO Country Office for India to identify appropriate policy options for bringing in health reforms in the identified priority areas.”
Also present on the occasion were senior officials from the Government of Rajasthan and WHO Country Office for India.
Stating that this MoU marks an important milestone in WHO’s engagement with the Government of India, Dr Fikru Tullu, Acting Coordinator, Health Programmes, WHO Country Office for India said, “I am confident that this partnership will be an enduring one, providing the health sector in Rajasthan with fresh impetus to reach new heights of performance, both in the operations of the health system and in the implementation of intersectoral actions
“It is imperative that any new intervention is based on the needs of the state, in addition to being evidence-based and cost-effective, and should involve a broader reform of the whole system,” he added.
In his remarks, Mr Mukesh Sharma, Principal Health Secretary, Government of Rajasthan said, “We are committed to advancing the UHC agenda, and the way forward is to prioritize action areas and design interventions which will entail broader health system reform in the state towards UHC.”
In this context, the Government of Rajasthan continues making strong efforts by formulating and implementing various reforms in the health sector. Rajasthan has made significant progress in improving its health indicators; however there is more to be done to ensure equitable access to quality health services and further improve health outcomes. One of the key objectives of this collaboration, therefore, would be to develop a concerted action plan for operationalizing UHC in the state.