Kumar, who is a doctor, hails from Jammu and is a 1993-batch IAS officer. He worked as assistant collector in Jalna and was CEO of the Hingoli zilla parishad before taking up the new post in Pune.

Speaking to this paper, Kumar said he had initiated a number of projects in Hingoli district which has five talukas and a population of 10 lakh. Health issues were top priority and to step up the number of institutional deliveries, Kumar introduced a project that had ambulances parked at a two-acre plot at a central place.

A helpline was provided and pregnant women had to simply call for the vehicle to be ferried to the nearest primary health centre for the delivery.

Four to five women were transported daily and the institutional delivery rate went up from 40 to 70 per cent in Hingoli district.

The project fetched a good response and after discussing the scheme with health officials in the Zilla Parishad, Kumar wants to introduce the scheme in Pune district. He aims at achieving the target of cent per cent institutional deliveries by 2012.

The thrust will be on people’s participation also in programmes like tackling malnutrition and anaemia.

The anaemia rate in Pune district is 58 per cent and the emphasis is on ante-natal women. “We are working out the feasibility of introducing 100 tablets for three months for adolescents at zilla parishad schools,” says Dr H H Chavan, district health officer.