State Level Convention on Health Sector Budget in Orissa: Demands for a Change

The public health scenario in Orissa is facing significant challenges of poor infrastructure, lack of human resources and acute government apathy. As a result, the poor and the marginalized sections of our society are going through difficult phases of pain and suffering. The process of neoliberal onslaught has aggravated this situation in last two decades. The latest Economic Survey highlighted some of the glaring deficits in the health sector situation in the State including severe incidences of infant & maternal mortality and malaria deaths in the state. Even common diseases like diarrhea and cholera take a tool of innocent lives every year. Under the influence of neoliberal policies, there has been a major rise in the number of private health facilities that are typically out of the reach of the masses. The new found dependence on the Centrally Sponsored Schemes has also marred the State run machinery in making provisions for the poor.

On 10th June the hundreds of Civil Society Groups (CSOs) from across the state came together to discuss the problems related to health sector in Orissa and prepared a Charter of Demands on Health Sector Budget for advocacy with the state government in the backdrop of the ongoing Budget Session in the State Assembly.

THe State level convention was jointly organized by Mumbai based organisation CEHAT, Human Rights Law Network (HRLN)- Bhubaneswar, Bharat Gyan Bigyan Samiti (BGVS) Bhubaneswar and Network for Social Accountability (NSA)-Bhubaneswar.Read more