Health Minister Bharti Parveen says state should give due credit to Centre in joint schemes

By Our Special Correspondent

Union Minister for Health Bharti Praveen Pawar has emphasized the need to print photos of the Prime Minister and Chief Minister on the cards of health schemes jointly implemented by the state and the Center. "People need to know what the Center is doing to the state. It needs to recognize its cooperation," she said.

She told media persons here on Sunday that in the federal structure, any program or scheme would be implemented jointly by the central and state governments and, therefore, would need to be agreed upon by both the parties. She stressed that people need to come to clarity on who is doing what.

She listed the health schemes introduced by the Center and various schemes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide quality medical care at affordable prices and better medical infrastructure in the country are yielding results.

She said that "The declining infant mortality rate and the increase in institutional deliveries are examples of how health schemes can produce good results,”

The Minister said that 50 lakh families in Andhra Pradesh have benefited under the Prime Minister's Jan Arogya Yojana (Ayushman Bharat) and Rs 1,042 crore has been released to the state from 2019. Under PMSSY, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was established in Mangalagiri, the first of its kind in South India.

She said the Modi government had set up 209 colleges in the last seven years, of which 37 per cent were private and the Center had so far given three medical colleges to Andhra Pradesh.

She said the health sector had provided Rs 490 crore to Andhra Pradesh under the 15th Finance Commission, Rs 503 crore under the Emergency Covid Relief Program (ECRP-1) and Rs 696 crore under the ECRP-II.

In addition, the state has received Rs. 54 crore and under Janani Suraksha Yojana Rs. 20 crore and under the Prime Minister's Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) Rs. 50 crore, under the Prime Minister's National Dialysis Program (PMNDP).