Tezpur, Nov 20 (PTI) Infant mortality rate in Assam has come down to 58 per cent after the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission in the state about five years ago, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said today.
The mortality rate dropped by seven per cent from the pre-NRHM figure of 65 per cent, Sarma said, inaugurating the Rs 75-lakh Special Newborn Baby Care unit at the Kanaklata Civil Hospital here, the fifth such unit in the state.
The mortality rate had come down close to the national rate of 55 per cent, he added.
The other four special units are at the Assam Medical College Hospital In Dibrugarh, Nalbari Civil Hospital, M M C Civil Hospital in Guwahati and Golaghat Civil Hospital.
For better medical treatment to the rural patients, wide ranging reforms would be brought about in the NRHM mission centres from the next financial year.
The construction work of the new Tezpur Medical College at Thumuki near Thelamara, under Dhekiajuli police station, would be completed soon to offer health care to the people from northern Assam from next year, Sarma said.
Appreciating the performance of the health workers under the NRHM, he said the appointed medical practitioners and health workers'' remuneration would also be enhanced from the next financial year.
