DIMAPUR: AlthoughNagaland is the second oldest state in the Northeast region, next to Assam, the state lacks infrastructure developments, including health care facilities, because of the fragile law-and-order situation in the state in past.
This was stated by Nagaland health and family welfare minister P Paiwang Konyak.
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Konyak, however, said there is peace in Nagaland for nearly a decade because of the support of all the stakeholders.
He was speaking at the inaugural programme of the first ever “Northeast Knowledge Conclave for Health” held in Guwahati on Thursday (June 15).
He urged the World Bank and other development partners to continue to assist Nagaland in infrastructure development in the rural areas, particularly in the health sector.
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Expressing gratitude to the World Bank for organising the two-day event, Konyak said it provided a platform to learn from each other and showcase achievements in state-specific health issues.
Konyak said the Nagaland Health Project (NHP), one of the few projects and the first in the Northeast funded by the World Bank, was started in 2015 as a pilot project in Tuensang and Peren districts in Nagaland and fully implemented in the remaining districts of the state in 2017.
He added that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the project provided oxygen cylinders and concentrators across Nagaland, constructed oxygen generation plant houses in eight district hospitals and installed oxygen pipelines at various health facilities.
Konyak stressed that the investments made by the World Bank through the NHP should be sustained to ensure that the gains made over the years are consolidated.
Participating in the panel discussion on health priorities in the Northeast, Nagaland health and family welfare department commissioner and secretary Y Kikheto Sema said Nagaland has the lowest infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate in the country and is the best malaria-controlled state in the Northeast region.
He lauded the World Bank and the Centre for initiating and supporting several health system strengthening projects in Nagaland.
Sema, however, said the state is facing challenges in controlling drug addiction and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and mental illness.