Shillong: The state department of health and family welfare has been asked by CM Conrad K Sangma to identify key health issues and work in a systematic manner to address the concerns.Speaking at the conference “Rethinking Anemia: Towards Comprehensive Anaemia Care” in Shillong on Wednesday, the CM said the conference was a continuation of the first Meghalaya Health Summit held last year with the objective to bring government, private hospitals, organisations and individuals together to think and work collectively.“Meghalaya has not always been a great story. We were at bottom of almost every chart in country – be it vaccination, Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) or stunting. We don’t look at it as failure. We look at it as challenge we are here to solve,” he said.“We are spending nine per cent of our budget on health – yes, it is a big thing. But the issue is how effective is it? It has to be spent in the right way, on the right things, at the right time,” the CM said.The CM said anemia remains central to maternal mortality, low birth weight, stunting and child development. He said through systematic work, maternal deaths have fallen from 228 in 2021-22 to 106 in 2025-26, institutional deliveries have risen from 58.1% (NFHS-5) to 65.6% (NFHS-6), stunting has fallen from 46.5% to 36.8%, and TFR from 2.9 to 2.2.He cited the example of increase in kidney failures as presented by Dr. Benjamin from Tura Christian Hospital, which showed how diet, high sugar, high carbs and lifestyle were driving preventable illness, and parents ‘unknowingly’ giving chips and chocolates to children at nine months to two 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,” he said.
