Health Management Information System in Leprosy Control Programme.

Health Management Information System was introduced methodically and enforced with ruthless punctuality in Maharashtra State from April 1981. It has paid excellent dividends so far as the implementation of the National Leprosy Control Programme is concerned. Key indicators have been fixed for new case detection, bacteriological examination, regularity of treatment and screening of old patients for activity status. Monitoring of these activities is done regularly and a feed back is provided. Marks are assigned for each kidney indicator and ranking is done based on the achievement of targets by each district, Municipal Corporation, Health Circle etc., every month. The same procedure is adopted at Primary Health Centre and even lower level. This has introduced a spirit of competition and generated a desire to better one's own performance by identifying and removing deficiencies. Maximum assistance is being derived from the Primary Health Care and use is being made of Multi Purpose Workers, Community Health Volunteers and other anciliary agencies in case finding and case holding programmes. The improvement in performance in respect of all key indicators during 1981-82 has been between 40 and 60 percent over the performance during 1980-81.