Constituting a Public Health Service (PHS) on the lines of IAS has been mooted again recently.
Who has proposed it?
The idea of having dedicated carder for public health management was first advocated by the Mudaliar Committee in 1959.
The 1973 Kartar Singh Committee reiterated the same.
Recently, the 12th Five Year Plan and the National Health Policy - 2017 have also strongly vouched for it.
Why PHS?
Doctors with no formal training in public health delivery systems were found to be ineffective in handling surveillance systems, data management and community health.
Also, they fared poorly in understanding rural social dynamics, managing logistics or draw up project budget estimates.
Hence, a need for an exclusive cadre trained to run public health facilities has been felt.
Recruiting doctors through the UPSC or their state equivalents has therefore been envisioned.
What is the current scenario?
As a proper public health delivery structures are lacking in most States, even anaesthetists are sometimes mandated to run programs for reproductive health or malaria control.
Also, at the ministry level, people with no formal training in the principles of public health tend occupy top posts.
Despite calls for a public health cadre in various reports, such a service at the national level doesn’t look possible any time soon.
Among states, Tamil Nadu has taken the lead in training a specialised cadre for health delivery, which is already showing results.
Recently, Odisha has notified the establishment of a dedicated cohort trained in public health.
What are the advantages?
Having a dedicated carder will help in reducing the need for deputing specialists for running public health programs.
This will enable them to attend to more important duties.
This will also enhance the quality of public health delivery and reduce the out-of-pocket health expenditure of the poor.
Constituting an exclusive department will go a long way enhancing training and streamlining management procedures in public health delivery systems.
The reach of such cadre to positions within the ministry will have a profound impact on future health policies as it will reflect ground realities better.
