Summary:
Nagpur: A report on Tribal Health in India has suggested an allocation of 2.5% per capita of GDP on tribal health. It is the first ever such review of tribal health in India.The report has also recommended that a ‘Tribal Health Council and Directorate of Tribal Health’ be set up. It recommends that 9.3% of state budget on tribal health should reach the secondary as well as tertiary health care to tribals.The 12-member expert committee on tribal health headed by Dr Abhay Bang of NGO Search (Gadchiroli) was working on the subject since 2013. It has also mooted a special cadre of 1,000 tribal health officers across 809 tribal majority blocks in 150 districts in the country.“Tribal people have least access to secondary and tertiary care. “The special cadre will include non-doctors as well,” he said.The recommendations are of possible interventions for improvement in health status of tribal population which include creation of a functioning, sustainable and universal system of health care for tribal people by 2022.The report calls for 70% of all allocated resources for primary health care in tribal health including prevention of diseases and promotion of health..