Kerala tops NITI Aayog Health Index, Uttar Pradesh worst performer

NITI Aayog Health Index report ranks Mizoram as first, followed by Manipur and Goa among the small states.

Uttar Pradesh fared the worst among 21 states on an outcomes-based comprehensive health index prepared for the first time by the federal think tank Niti Aayog, which ranked Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu in the top three.

View of a primary health centre in Jalandhar. Punjab ranks no. 2 on NITI Aayog’s Health Index report released on Friday. (HT file)

The performance report based — Healthy States, Progressive India – was released on Friday by officials of Niti Aayog, the health ministry and the World Bank.

The think tank’s CEO Amitabh Kant said they will also announce a ranking of India’s 730 district hospitals in June.

“We want to reward the performers and name and shame those who are not performing,” he added.

Among smaller states, ranked separately, Mizoram got the top rank, followed by Manipur and then Goa. Lakshadweep recorded the best overall performance among Union Territories, followed by Chandigarh and Delhi.

The government has decided to double the financial incentive of 10% on National Health Mission allocations for states that perform well, health secretary Preeti Sudan announced at the launch of the report.

The index ranked Jharkhand at the top among states that have shown the best year-on-year improvement.

Dubbing it an outcome of competitive federalism, Kant said, “Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have done very well due to the radical reforms they introduced.”

Seventy per cent weightage was given to health outcomes, 12% to governance and information, and 18% to key inputs and processes.