Maharashtra to establish a separate urban health directorate

MUMBAI: The Government of Maharashtra will create a separate directorate of urban health services for efficient coordination during pandemic crises and to guarantee improved delivery of public health services in the expanding urban agglomerations in Maharashtra.  

This directorate, which would be under the jurisdiction of the Public Health Department of Maharashtra, will be in charge of managing all urban local bodies, including the municipal councils and 27 municipal corporations. The state cabinet will soon hear the proposal for an urban health directorate. According to a senior executive from the state department of public health, the new administrative structure should improve the delivery of federal and state government programmes in urban areas. Another official from the department said that the director (urban) will oversee executive health officers of municipal corporations and councils. This was a lesson learnt during the pandemic when there were problems like compiling data, for instance.

The Director General of Health Services in Mumbai and the Director, Health and Family Welfare, based in Pune, are the two directors now in charge of the directorate of health services. According to the 2011 census, Maharashtra is the third most urbanised state with 45.23 percent of its people living in cities, behind Tamil Nadu and Kerala.