Resources Not the Constraint on Health Improvement

Health Improvement A Comment P H Reddy IT has often been complained that lack of resources or infrastructure! facilities impede development programmes, including health and family welfare programmes. But in his article,1 P G K Panikar seems to have convincingly demonstrated that it is not the resources constraint but rather lack of proper policies and priorities that acts as an impediment to improvement of health status of people. To prove his point, Panikar compares various indices of health resources and health status of people in Kerala and other states of India. However, caution needs to be exercised when a comparison is made between Kerala and other states, Kerala is a unique state in more than one sense, As has been rightly pointed out by Panikar, literacy rate is much higher in Kerala than in other states. Educated people tend to be conscious of their rights and duties. Educated people in Kerala perhaps demand services from various health institutions and maintain good environmental sanitation and personal hygiene and thus maintain a better health status. Similarly, educated parents in Kerala perhaps know better infant and child feeding practices and thus reduce infant and child morbidity and mortality.