Decentralisation and Interventions in Health Sector: A Critical Inquiry into the Experience of Local Self Governments in Kerala

This paper attempts to analyse the transition in the healthcare sector during the last two decades linking it to the interventions of Local Self Governments (LSGs). It was found that decentralisation improved infrastructure facilities andequipment in primary and secondary healthcare institutions and widened healthcare delivery. It succeeded in providing safe drinking water and sanitation facilities to the local people. The accountability of the public healthcare system was also enhanced. However, it could not address the issues of nutritional imbalance, old age care, lifestyle diseases and the changing morbidity pattern in the state. This paper calls for a comprehensive health policy to ensure functional autonomy for LSGs to address the emerging healthcare needs in Kerala.