Centre sanctions ₹2,103 cr to Bengal under National Health Mission: Adhikari

WEst Bengal chief government minister Suvendu Adhikari on sat said the Centre sanctioned ₹2103 crore for the say below the subject Health Mission (NHM) for the ongoing financial year.“The Centre sanctioned around ₹2103 crore under the NHM for this financial year. Of this, around ₹500 crore was transferred to the state on Saturday,” Adhikari said.This comes within two weeks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coming to power in the state. The previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government repeatedly accused the Centre of not releasing funds to the state government under various schemes.“We made a special request to JP Nadda, Union health minister, to release funds for the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25. He said that the previous government didn’t submit the utilisation certificate for the year 2021-22. He assured that if the utilisation certificate is sent, the centre will release the funds for the previous years. The state finance and health secretaries will send the utilisation certificates by May 30,” Adhikari said.He added that the Centre has also sanctioned its share of ₹973 crore under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana for the present financial year. While the Centre shares 60% of the funding and premium costs of AB-PMJAY, the state shares 40%.“We would get more funds under the 15th Finance Commission in the present financial year. Work is going for that,” Adhikari said.Adhikari met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Friday. It was his first meeting with Modi after taking charge on May 9. On Saturday he held a virtual meeting with Nadda.No TMC leaders were available for comment.Also Read:TMC ward councillor found dead at Kolkata home; police suspect suicideAdhikari also said that Ayushman Bharat will be rolled out in West Bengal expectedly from July.“The work on enrolment for Ayushman Bharat Yojana has already started. We hope that more than 60 million people, who were covered under the Swasthya Sathi scheme (launched by the TMC government) will start getting the benefits from July. We have also decided to sign the agreement for Ayushman Arogya Mandir at Delhi in June,” he said.He also said that a proposal was sent to the Centre to set up at least 469 PM Janaushadhi Kendras at the block, subdivision and district level across the state.He pointed out that the under-five mortality rate in some districts including Kolkata, Murshidabad, East Burdwan, Birbhum and Malda among others were high and that the state was also lagging behind in the National Leprosy Eradication Program. There are at least seven districts which show higher leprosy burdens – Bankura, Birbhum, Jhargram, Kolkata, West Burdwan, Purulia and North Dinajpur. The state government will focus on these districts.“In the health sector, only 53% of the sanctioned posts of doctors, nurses and other staff are filled, which is lower than the national average of 98%,” he said.The CM said that medical colleges will be set up in every district across the state. Four districts were yet to have medical colleges. A proposal will be sent to the Centre along with a separate proposal for setting up All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in north Bengal.