States » EastPosted at: Nov 4 2026 2:52PM


Meghalaya CM urges systematic action on anaemia and preventable illnesses

Shillong, Nov 4 (UNI) Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday urged the state Health and Family Welfare department to identify key healthcare challenges and adopt a focused, systematic approach to addressing them.
Speaking at the conference “Rethinking Anaemia: Towards Comprehensive Anaemia Care”, the Chief Minister said the conference is a continuation of the first Meghalaya Health Summit held last year, whose objective was to bring government, private hospitals, organisations and individuals together to think and work collectively.
“I had urged the Health Department that every year, and if possible every six months, we must take up one topic, one issue, one concern and ensure we continue to work on it for six months till we can create awareness about that particular subject,” Sangma said.
Citing findings presented by Dr Benjamin of Tura Christian Hospital on the rising incidence of kidney failure, the Chief Minister highlighted how unhealthy diets, excessive sugar and carbohydrate consumption, and poor lifestyle choices were contributing to preventable illnesses.
He also pointed to the 1000-day programme where parents unknowingly give chips and chocolates to children at 9 months to 2 years to keep them happy – doing the worst thing for child health.
“These are small things people need to know. Somebody must tell them. That is why we must come together and direct our efforts towards a particular goal in a concerted manner,” Sangma said.
Stating that the biggest step in the it islast 8 years for the government was partnering with like-minded organisations, the Chief Minister said, “It is not about money always. It is about desire to make a change, bringing minds and hearts together, bringing expertise together.”
“We are spending 9 per cent of our budget on health – yes, it is a big thing. But the issue is how effective is it? Spending money alone is not enough. It has to be spent in the right way, on the right things, at the right time,” Sangma said.
He said Meghalaya had established strong partnerships with organisations such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), whose entire Executive Board had spent three of its seven days in India visiting the state, including its remote villages.
The Chief Minister urged participants to look beyond the conference and translate discussions into meaningful action at the grassroots level.
“Even small initiatives, such as raising awareness among a single mother in a village or interacting with schoolgirls about important issues, could make a significant difference,” he said, adding that such sustained community engagement was the kind of partnership the state sought.
“Meghalaya has not always been a great story. We were at the bottom of almost every chart in the country – be it vaccination, MMR, stunting. We don’t look at it as failure. We look at it as a challenge we are here to solve. God has given us this opportunity for a purpose,” he said.
However, rather than viewing these poor rankings as failures, the Chief Minister said the government considered them challenges that needed to be addressed.
Recalling the launch of the Maternal Mortality Reduction (MMR) programme in 2019, he said then Ampati Deputy Commissioner Ramkumar S was initially tasked with ensuring that every mother’s life was saved.
The Chief Minister underscored the role of anaemia in contributing to maternal mortality, low birth weight, child stunting and impaired child development.
He said the conference would focus on a comprehensive approach to anaemia management, encompassing screening, treatment, nutritional interventions and regular follow-up, with particular attention to adolescent girls and pregnant women.
The Chief Minister said sustained interventions and systematic efforts had yielded significant improvements in key health indicators in the state.
Maternal deaths declined from 228 in 2021-22 to 106 in 2025-26, while institutional deliveries increased from 58.1 per cent under NFHS-5 to 65.6 per cent under NFHS-6.
The prevalence of child stunting also dropped from 46.5 per cent to 36.8 per cent, while the total fertility rate (TFR) declined from 2.9 to 2.2.
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