Now look out for grading of Community Health Centers (CHCs) 

• Rakesh Dubbudu

Government of India has now initiated grading of Community Health Centers (CHCs) across the country. The earlier system of Star Rating to CHCs has now been renamed as grading. The grading is done based on data on six different categories, two of which are mandatory.

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The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has initiated Star Rating of Community Health Centers (CHCs) in April, 2015. It has now been renamed as ‘Grading of CHCs’ in June 2016. Grading of CHCs is based on monthly performance data and annual infrastructure data as uploaded on Health Management Information system (HMIS) portal and is generated on quarterly basis on HMIS portal.

Criteria used for Grading

The grading of CHCs is done based on the data in the following categories

• Human Resources available
• Infrastructure available
• Drugs & Supplies
• Service Availability
• Client Orientation
• Service Utilization

Mandatory Criteria

Both Human Resources & Infrastructure are mandatory criteria.

If CHC satisfies all the criteria in the above two categories, it would be eligible for Grading & will get 1 grade.

Drugs & Supplies

If the CHC facility satisfies all the three criteria with “Yes”, facility gets one Grade

Service Availability

If the CHC facility satisfies all the three criteria with “Yes”, facility gets one Grade

Client Orientation

If the CHC facility satisfies all the three criteria with “Yes”, facility gets one Grade

Service Utilization

For CHCs falling under ‘Hilly districts & districts of North Eastern States’ a relaxation of 30% is provided on the basic criteria. Based on which the ‘Minimum value/ month’ is considered as:

If the CHC facility satisfies any 4 or all 5 Service Utilization criteria, it would get one Grade.

Grading Process

The following process is followed in grading.

• If any CHC satisfies both the mandatory criteria (i.e. Human Resources available & Infrastructure available), the CHC is eligible for Grading & also gets 1 Grade.
• If the CHC fails to satisfy both of the criteria (i.e. Human Resources available & Infrastructure available) & also do not have Drugs and supplies, Service availability, Client Orientation and Service Utilization then Grading is not applicable for CHC & status of the CHC will be ‘NA’ (Not Applicable) i.e. for all the items /parameters considered for grading the CHCs has either not reported or reported ‘0’.
• If the CHC fails to satisfy any of the criteria (Human Resources, Infrastructure) & has any non-zero value for any of the category i.e. Human Resources, Infrastructure, Drugs and supplies, Service availability, Client Orientation or Service Utilization then CHC is not eligible for Grading and status of CHC will be ‘NE’ (Not Eligible)

How will it help?

As per the information shared in Lok Sabha, the grading of CHCs will help the Programme Managers to identify the gaps in the available infrastructure and service availability. It also helps taking necessary corrective steps to strengthen/ upgrade health facilities. Government of India has put in place a system of incentives/ disincentives in the review of Programme Implementation Plans of States & UTs based on the above mentioned grades of CHCs. The grading reports of every state can be downloaded here.

Featured Image: Community Health Center