Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused the Union government of trying to snatch the credit for Kerala’s development in health sector. He said the Centre was trying to steal the credit by rebranding the State’s gains.
Addressing the media after a breakfast meet with invited guests during Navakerala Sadas at Perinthalmanna on Thursday, the Chief Minister said the Centre was trying to rebrand the State’s primary health centres (PHCs) as ‘Ayushman Arogya Mandir’.
“They (the Centre) want our PHCs to be renamed Ayushman Arogya Mandir before December 31. Think about that situation. It is never a healthy suggestion,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan said that the primary health centres in Kerala are a model for the whole country. When other States are offering nominal services through PHC sub-centres, Kerala is trying to upgrade them. “We have upgraded many PHCs to family health centres. The State government and the local bodies have been supporting them quite well for long.”
The Chief Minister said that his government had upgraded 61 PHCs to family health centres in the past seven years. As many as 15 community health centres were upgraded to block level family health centres.
Kerala was in news in recent days for conducting an organ transplant surgery at one of its district hospitals. According to rural health statistics brought out by the National Health Mission in 2022, Kerala has one PHC sub-centre for 1,919 people whereas the national average is one for 5,734 people.
Kerala has one PHC for 12,844 people against the national average of one for 35,602 people. The State has one community health centre for 47,155 people against the national average of one for 1,63,298 people.
“Our annual Budget for public health is ₹10,000 crore. This is apart from the crores of rupees spent by the local bodies,” said the Chief Minister.
Mr. Vijayan said that the State government had intensified its vigil in view of an increase in pneumonia cases in different parts of China. He said the Health department has enhanced monitoring in view of the situation. The State Medical Board and the Public Health wing have strengthened the surveillance with the help of specialist doctors.
The Chief Minister said that there was no increase in respiratory diseases or symptoms in the State in the past three months.
