How has the Health Ministry fared in the eight months that the BJP has led the government at the Centre? Ezhilmalai breaks into superlatives as he describes the track record of his ministry since he took over. Even the four strikes that struck the hospital sector in the capital, are converted into plus points by the ebullient Minister. Excerpts from his conversation with NIRMALA GEORGE:

How do you rate your eight months as Health Minister? What have been the major achievementsand the areas of failure?

How do I rate my Ministry? ... efficient, excellent, hard working, very good, splendid ..

But what are the achievements?

For the first time we have held five regional conferences of state Health Ministers resulting in a close interaction with each of the states. This means the Centre has moved closer to the states to help them overcome their problems in the Health sector. The five regional conferences were in Hyderabad, Srinagar, Shillong, Ahmedabad and Calcutta. And in January we are convening the Central Council of Health Ministers conference in Delhi.

But the regional conferences are mostly talking shops. What are the achievements on the ground?

All the different national programmes, on Tuberculosis, Malaria, Blindness, AIDs control and Leprosy are going full steam ahead. These National Programmes are being closely monitored by the Ministry in all the states.

Very soon India's population is going to cross the one billion mark. But there appears tobe an air of apathy towards this issue. Is the government any closer to finalising the National Population Policy which has been hanging fire since 1994?

We are about to finalise the population policy. But population control cannot be implemented with the passing of a policy. It requires a change in people's ways of thinking. It involves the social customs, traditional lifestyles, education and literacy, and overall health levels of the people before they see the wisdom of adopting the small family norm.

Has the change in emphasis of family welfare programmes yielded results?

For some time now, the Ministry has been emphasising the need to make family welfare policies oriented towards the male. I found that family welfare and population control programmes were all geared towards the female. The programmes are now directed towards the man and men are being motivated to take responsibility of this aspect of life. And this reorientation is beginning to yield results. We have achieved notableresponse in some states to the `no scalpel vasectomy', especially in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states. But a lot remains to be done to convince the men that going in for the no scalpel surgery does not affect their health.

But the real change that I want to see is a stop to the use of Indian women as guinea pigs for testing contraceptive methods. Every time I travel women complain to me about the side effects they are suffering from some birth control device or surgery that they underwent. We have banned the import and use of Quinacrine, which some doctors were testing out on Indian women. How can we allow the use of a contraceptive drug where the side-effects are not fully known and may be severe? We will not allow this to happen. Indian women will not become guinea pigs for any untested drug trials.

But if the population explosion is to be tackled by changing social attitudes, it will take generations before people change their mindsets. Is there any new initiative that the Ministry isplanning?

Maternal mortality is a grave problem in our country. Illiteracy, social customs and lack of trained attendants at the time of delivery all contribute to the high maternal mortality levels. We have just worked out a scheme under which one young girl, between 18 and 21 years of age, is chosen from among six villages to travel from village to village explaining to the people about family health and hygiene. She will visit peoples' homes and talk to the women about the importance of fewer children, spacing births, the need for trained midwives and different contraceptive methods, etc. We will make the materials available to the young animators. The incentive for the young girls is that they will be given a monthly stipend of Rs 3,000, and given a considerable lump sum at the time of her marriage. In return she must give an undertaking that she will not marry till she reaches the age of 21. The advantage is that the people, especially the women will be more receptive to ideas and advice from alocal person.

At what stage is this scheme?

We have got the idea of such a scheme moving. We are planning to cover six lakh villages, which means one lakh girl animators. The Ministry has no money for the scheme, so we are hoping that there will be some provision in the next budget. We are also ready to examine funds from any external agency to implement this scheme, which we are convinced will make a difference.

There is a perception that all the action that the Ministry has seen is four strikes that hit the Delhi hospitals over the last eight months. Why is every section of hospital workers unhappy?

The problems of the nursing staff, the doctors and the hospital karamcharis, are all long-standing problems, which have been pending for over 15 years. We may have witnessed four strikes but to our credit all these strikes were resolved amicably. We have given doctors, nurses, karamcharis some relief, met some of their demands. I am not saying I have resolved all their problems, butI have conceded to demands because we value the work and dedication of our hospital staff.

How realistic is the goal of `Health for All'? What are the priorities that need urgent attention in the field of health care?

Health care is an area where there is a lot that needs to be done. All our efforts are aimed at moving closer to the goal of `Health for all'. It is a well set goal. Whether we succeed or not in meeting a deadline is not what is of importance, but how hard we work towards the goal.