Patiala\/New Delhi, 5 Mar: Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Sunday said the Union government\u2019s flagship programme the Ayushman Bharat \u2013 Health and Wellness Centres cannot be converted to any other scheme by state governments.
\nEarlier, the Union Health Ministry had said the Punjab government was converting Ayushman Bharat \u2013 Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWC) into \u2018Mohalla Clinics\u2019, a pet project of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, and had warned of stopping the funds for the scheme.
\nThe AB-HWC is formulated with a 60:40 contribution ratio by the Centre and the state.
\nMandaviya was on a visit to Patiala on Sunday during which he made a surprise visit to review the security arrangements at a NEET-PG exam centre in the city. He also interacted with the candidates\u2019 parents there.
\nThis is the first time that the Union Health minister has visited a National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) exam centre during an examination, a Health Ministry statement said.
\n\u201cVisited NEET-PG exam centre in Patiala, Punjab, and took stock of the arrangements,\u201d Mandaviya said in a tweet in Hindi.
\nMandaviya also paid obeisance at the Shri Kali Devi Mandir and Gurudwara Shri Dukhniwaran Sahib in Patiala.
\nInteracting with reporters later, Mandaviya clarified that the Centre has released the National Health Mission (NHM) grant only for Health and Wellness Centres and that this scheme cannot be converted by the state government.
\nHe said a state may close the scheme but it cannot convert it.
\nMandaviya said state governments can promote any model of health on their own, but the central grant cannot be spent on any other state scheme.
\n\u201cHealth and Wellness Centres scheme cannot be converted. If any state does not want to adopt it, it can stop it, that is one issue. But it cannot be converted,\u201d he stressed.
\n\u201c\u2026Issue was only this much that it should not be converted and today I was told that they (Punjab government) will run the Health and Wellness Centres,\u201d the Union Health Minister said.
\n\u201cWe believe in cooperative federalism. We are helping all state governments in every way, it does not matter which party rules which state.
\n\u201cI have said health and wellness centres should be run and if they are run, naturally our grant will continue\u2026Health should not be an issue of politics, it is connected with citizens,\u201d he said.
\nPunjab Health Minister Balbir Singh said a detailed discussion related to the state\u2019s health sector was held with Mandaviya.
\nHe claimed that the Union minister \u201cappreciated the holistic healthcare model which the AAP is implementing in Punjab\u201d.
\n\u201cHe (Mandaviya) had a couple of concerns pertaining to co-branding (related to the wellness centres issue) which we addressed. He gave assurance that funds will be released immediately,\u201d Singh said.
\nMandaviya said critical care units will be granted for all districts in the state, and a proposal will be sent by the state to the Centre in this regard, he said.
\nLast month, the Punjab Health Minister had said under the National Health Mission, out of Rs 1,114 crore \u2014 the Centre was to disburse to Punjab in a 60:40 ratio \u2014 only Rs 438 was received from it as against Rs 668 crore.
\nThe state government, which was to spend Rs 445 crore, spent Rs 618 crore, he had said.
\nSingh had alleged that when the Centre \u201ccould not find anything\u201d with the \u2018Aam Aadmi clinics\u2019, it started questioning its branding.
\nMandaviya, during his visit to Patiala on Saturday, also reviewed the healthcare services and infrastructure in Rajindra Hospital, a government facility, in the city.
\nHe inspected the hospital\u2019s facilities and held discussions with the hospital administration and medical staff to gain insights into the healthcare challenges and needs of the region.
\nBalbir Singh submitted a detailed memorandum of demands regarding the upgradation of health services and infrastructure in Punjab.
\nThe two ministers held discussions on ways to improve the quality of healthcare and access in Punjab. The Union minister\u2019s visit to Patiala is a part of the government\u2019s efforts to assess and improve healthcare facilities across the country, an official statement said. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Patiala\/New Delhi, 5 Mar: Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Sunday said the Union government\u2019s flagship programme the Ayushman Bharat \u2013 Health and Wellness Centres cannot be converted to any other scheme by state governments. Earlier, the Union Health Ministry had said the Punjab government was converting Ayushman Bharat \u2013 Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWC) into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-212258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}