(a) The appointment of each member of the State Public Health Board, except the ex-officio appointees, shall be for a period of three years.
(b) The State Public Health Board may create sub-committees in order to address specific areas or needs concerning the public health system.
(c) The State Public Health Board shall meet at least once in six months.
14. The State Public Health Board shall carry out the following functions, namely :-
(a) Formulate and implement State level strategies and plans of action for the determinants of health, especially food, water, sanitation and housing ;
(b) Identify the State’s health goals to be included in the mandate of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)/ Autonomous Council;
(c) To get clinical and medical audits carried out on select conditions of public health importance, receive relevant reports and initiate necessary' action.
(d) Institute systems of confidential inquiry into deaths to identify and analyse the failures of health systems, towards systemic improvements;
(e) Establish and implement performance standards, measures, capacities and process for health care infrastructure, service providers, quality or performance improvement that are required for achieving the objectives of this A ct;
(f) Make available, at all levels of health care, essential and rational drugs that are listed in the National List of Essential Medicines and/or the latest Model List of Essential Drugs of WHO, and promoting rational drug use;
(g) Develop public health IEC infrastructure and programmes for mass public health campaigns and activities, with THE ASSAM GAZETTE. EXTRAORDINARY, MAY 7,2010 995 District Public Health board institutionalized involvement of educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, community based organizations, associations of medical providers, traditional health care practitioners, mass media including privately owned mass media, and all stakeholders in promotion of public health;
(h) Formulate and implement human resources development plans to ensure availability, efficiency and regular capacity building of health care providers, commensurate with the public health needs of the State ;
(i) Develop and implement capacity building plans for all the bodies anti committees being set up at various levels under this A ct;
(j) Develop mechanisms for initiating public-private partnership in implementation of public health programmes that ensure equity and quality of health care services;
(k) Develop mechanisms for creating and empowering decentralized monitoring committees at all levels, both rural and urban and seeking their feedback in structured manner;
(l) Ensure coordination between all the public health related authorities and agencies within the health services in the rural areas and municipal health services in the urban areas;
(m) Ensure coordination with other Government departments, agencies and with the Central Government for handling public health emergencies ;
(n) Coordinate with the relevant Government departments and agencies to ensure availability and access to adequate and safe food, water, sanitation and housing throughout the State;
(o) Review the existing laws and policies of State Government that are related to health/ public health, to determine compliance with this act and make recommendations for reform I amend or repeal where necessary ; and
(p) Appoint committees and sub- committees to address technical aspects of specific areas or needs for above or other similarly relevant purposes or any other mandate of State Government, on such terms as it may deem fit, involving dissolving, removing or streamlining any of the existing ones.
15. A District Public Health Board shall be established by the Government which shall consist of the following, namely
(a) The Deputy Commissioner of the District / Principal Secretary of the Autonomous Council in the Sixth Schedule districts or his nominee shall be the Chairperson;
(b) Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad in non Sixth Schedule Districts and Chief Executive Member in Sixth Schedule Districts, or his representative shall be the Co-Chairperson.
(c) The Joint Director of Health Services of the concerned district shall be the Member - Secretary.
THE ASSAM GAZETTE. EXTRAO amMARY. MAY 7.2010
(d) Senior most Engineer at District level from Public Health Engineering Department. President/Chairman, Zila Parishad, District Social Welfare Officer, Project Director DRDA, Deputy Director Town and Planning Commission, Chairperson or his nominee of Municipal Corporation, Programme Officer o f ICDS, Project Director IPDP, Director D1PR - Members.
(e) Four non official members from NGOs, Health experts etc.to be nominated by the Deputy Commissioner/ Principal Secretary of Autonomous Councils of the Sixth Schedule districts as the case may be.
Functions of the District Public Health Board The District Public Health Board shall carry out the following functions, namely
(a) Organize hearing of the beneficiaries coming to the hospital once in a year with a view to improve the health care services ;
(b) Formulate and implt ment strategies and plans of action for the determinants of health, especially food, water, sanitation and housing for the district;
(c) Ensure coordination between all the public health institutions of the district;
(d) Coordinate with other Government departments and agencies for handling public health emergencies ;
(e) Coordinate with the relevant Government departments and agencies to ensure availability and access to adequate and safe food, water, sanitation and housing throughout the district; and
(f) To carry out such other activities as may be entrusted by the State Health Board in order to achieve the objectives of the Act.
Monitoring mechanism by the Government
17. The Government shall establish an intensive accountability framework through the following method of monitoring
(i) Health Information System (HIS):
(a) The Government shall facilitate and co-ordinate the establishment, implementation and maintenance of health information systems at different levels;
(b) The Government shall, for the purpose of creating, maintaining or adopting database within the state health information system, prescribe categories or kinds of data for submission, data collection, indicators, manner, and formats in which and by whom the data must be compiled or collated and must be submitted to the national as well as state department in a technically and institutionally sound manner;
(c) Every public or private health establishment, which provides health care or any health services, and every THE ASSAM GAZETTE, EXTRAORDINARY, MAY 7,2010 997 other relevant agency must establish and maintain a health information system as part of the national and state health information system envisaged herein ;
(d) All the data, in the form it is collected as well as after analysis through the health information system, in disaggregated as well as aggregated forms, must be fully accessible to all members of the general public and the Government must also take proactive measures to publish and disseminate it to people so as to enhance their effective participation on the health related decisions :
Provided that all the routine health reports prepared and submitted at every level, along with the forms filled towards that, shall be shared with the PRIs at all times :
Provided also that State Government may by rules prohibit disclosures of certain category of data/information which is not of public interest;
(e) The Government may by rules lay down specific provisions for convergence and integration of all health related data; preventing duplication of data collection or other reasons for waste of resources; ensuring maximum access to the data, including through use of web technology electronic data base and to resolve other related technology issues; cost-effectiveness of the health information systems including through appropriate software; and for effective dissemination of the health information.
(ii) Government Monitoring : Government shall have a monitoring system to monitor, -
(a) annual financial audits of the health systems at State and districts levels by the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) as well as by a chartered accountant and any special audit that may be deemed fit by the Government, by agencies like the Indian Public Auditors, with the help and under the supervision of one or more research and resource institutions in the State, that shall be contracted for this purpose ;
(b) system of mandatory audits of medical records by every health care establishment and institution, public or private ;
(c) system of mandatory audits into maternal and child deaths as well as any other unusual death, by every health establishment and institution, public or private ;
(d) mandatory requirement for all the health care institutions and establishments to prominently display information regarding the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) in various respects; the charter of users’ rights; charter of citizens grants received by 998 THE ASSAM GAZETTE, EXTRAORDINARY. MAY 7, 2010 Objectives of the monitoring system the institutions; medicines and vaccines in stock;
services provided to the users, user charges to be paid (if any), as envisaged in the Right to Information Act;
and the monitoring of performance of the institutions and establishments on such parameters;
(e) engage autonomous institutions with professional expertise and functional and administrative autonomy to conduct independent surveys to periodically assess the progress made on key health parameters;
effectiveness of various health initiatives; status in health equity and access to quality health services including costs of health care and impact of health care costs on poverty; track public expenditure on health care; and the Government, as advised by the respective health boards which shall lay down regulations for their functioning.
(iii) Community based monitoring : - The monitoring methods under clauses (i) and (ii) shall involve the communities as active co facilitators articulating their needs, helping in identification of key indicators and creation of tools for monitoring, providing feedback, as well as validating the data-collected by these methods.