The Rajasthan government's scheme for operating its primary health centres (PHCs) under the public- private partnership (PPP) model showed "encouraging results", Health Minister Kalicharan Saraf said today.

Told that Karnataka and Uttarakhand governments had to take all PHCs in its fold after the PPP model failed there, Saraf said that he was not aware of such development and added that the PPP model scheme, 'Run a PHC', in Rajasthan was showing good results.At a press conference, the minister said that 16 lakh patients have benefited from the health insurance scheme Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojna (BSBY).Listing out the achievements of his department in last four years, the minister said that infant mortality rate (IMR) in state went down to 41 as per the Sample Registration Survey (SRS) 2016, as against 47 the SRS-2013.

Maternal mortality rate (MMR), which was 255 per lakh in 2012, reduced to nearly 200 per lakh as per the current estimates.Saraf told reporters that not all infant deaths can be prevented.It is correct that deaths have occurred due to scarcity of resources but wherever deaths have occurred, strict action is being taken.He said that government was committed to reducing IMR to 28 by 2022.Recently, the state government had disclosed in the Rajasthan High Court that in the last one year, 32,002 newborns have died in Rajasthan.

The revelation was made when the government was presenting its arguments in the case of the deaths of 90 newborns witnessed in two months in a government hospital in Banswara.The cabinet minister said that 'mother milk bank' was operational in 10 district hospitals in the state.So far, 10,715 mothers donated 21.99 lakh mililitres milk, which save lives of 7,513 newborns, he added.He said that 95 operations, including 26 in other states, were carried out to arrest those involved in illegal sex determination, leading to an improvement in sex ratio.