Status and Effectiveness of Maternity and Child Health Care Services: A Micro-Level Analysis in Rural Tamil Nadu

Public health care services are provided by the institutions of government with appropriate manpower, infrastructure (including laboratories and equipment) and special schemes / specific programmes. The effective implementation and better utilization of such services alone ensure the achievement of desired results. For this, an evaluation of the progress and performance of specific, target - oriented public health schemes becomes necessary so as to improve the delivery of them, especially in rural areas. In this regard, an analysis was made on the status and effectiveness of maternity and child health care services provided by three upgraded Primary Health Centres (PHCs) – Namagiripet, Pillanallur and Sowdapuram - located in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu. An assessment of the quality of the services (Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, Medical and Paramedical Staff) provided by these three centres in the sphere of maternity and child health care revealed a positive status and effective implementation of the government schemes. An analysis of the information and data collected from the beneficiaries of these three PHCs numbering 141 helped to assess the quality and effectiveness of outreach programmes. Though the overall performance was found as impressive, inadequate manpower (especially specialist doctors), poor maintenance and sanitation facilities were the stumbling blocks which slow the progress. All these call for an objective evaluation of the provision of public health care services and their utilization by the targeted poor people in the rural areas.