Andhra Pradesh slips to 4th spot in NITI Aayog’s annual health index

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh slipped to fourth place from the earlier third place, in overall performance after Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana in this year NITI Aayog’s annual health index which keeps a track of “overall performance and incremental performance across all states and UTs”.

AP scored 69.95 in overall reference year index score from the base year 2018-19 to reference year 2019-20. It secured 10th place in incremental rank by registering incremental change of just 1.07. Among larger states, AP is one of them whose rank slipped to fourth place.

The NITI Aayog prepares health index incorporating 24 indicators covering key aspects of health performance.

Telangana, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the two states that demonstrated “strong overall performance and showed most improvements” on various health services parameters, according to the Niti Ayog.

The top planning body in the country said Mizoram and Telangana were the only two states that demonstrated strong overall performance and showed most improvements in between the 2018-19, and 2019-20.

Niti Ayog also said Telangana was among the top three states in the country in overall performance in the health sector.

In its report, ‘Healthy States Progressive India’ released on Monday, the Niti Ayog said among the larger states, Telangana’s overall performance, as well as incremental performance on various parameters, put it in the third place among larger states, behind Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

In its previous report for 2018-19, the Niti Ayog, which replaced the Planning Commission in 2014, had placed TS in the fourth place in the country.