World Bank and Meghalaya signed a project on Health

• The government of India, the Government of Meghalaya and the World Bank signed a $40 million health project for the state of Meghalaya.
• The project will improve the quality of health services and strengthen the state’s capacity to handle future health emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project will enhance the management and governance capabilities of the state and its health facilities; expand the design and coverage of the state’s health insurance program; improve the quality of health services through certification and better human resource systems; and enable efficient access to medicines and diagnostics.
• All 11 districts of the state will benefit from the project. It will also benefit health sector staff at the primary and secondary levels by strengthening their planning and management capabilities and building their clinical skills. The project will enable women to better utilize healthcare services at the community level.
• The project will help strengthen the effectiveness of Meghalaya’s health insurance program known as the Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) – which currently covers 56% of the households.
• With its merger into the national Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY), MHIS now plans to offer a more comprehensive package and cover 100% of the households.
• This will reduce barriers to accessing hospital services and preventing catastrophic out-of-pocket costs for poor families.
• As a key strategy, the project will move towards a performance-based financing system where Internal Performance Agreements (IPAs) between the DoHFW and its subsidiaries would foster more accountability at all levels.
• This is expected to go a long way in improving the management of the system to deliver quality health services. The project will also focus on promoting synergy between various schemes and augment the capacity of the state insurance agency.
• The project will invest in infection prevention and control for a more resilient response to future outbreaks, pandemics, and health emergencies.
• Improved health services may also lead to an incremental increase in bio-medical waste. Any improper management of wastes including bio-medical waste and other hazardous wastes such as plastic waste and e-waste poses environmental risks. The project will invest in improving the overall ecosystem for bio-medical waste management (both solid and liquid waste). It will include segregation, disinfection, and collection while safeguarding the environment and improving the quality of health service and patient safety.

PM Gati Shakti Master Plan

• On India’s 75th Independence Day, the Prime Minister announced that the Centre will launch ‘PM Gati Shakti Master Plan’.
• It is a 100 lakh crore Infrastructure plan for developing ‘holistic infrastructure’.
• The plan is aimed at easier interconnectivity between road, rail, air and waterways to reduce travel time and improve industrial productivity.
• The push for infrastructure is in line with the government’s efforts to step up capital expenditure in infrastructure to promote economic growth.

Significance of the project

• The project will be a source of employment opportunities for the youth in future.
• Infrastructure development has the ability to create a multiplier effect with every rupee invested, yielding much higher returns.
• It will help raise the global profile of local manufacturers and help them compete with their counterparts worldwide.
• It also raises possibilities of new future economic zones.
• It is also help to increase both manufacturing and exports.