Health Minister Banna Gupta on Thursday gave away Kayakalp awards for maintaining hygiene and cleanliness to at least 67 Government-run healthcare facilities in Jharkhand, and lauded the efforts of public hospitals in keeping their facilities infection-free even during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The District Hospital in Pakur bagged the first position among district hospitals in all the 24 districts in the year 2019-2020, while district hospitals in Ramgarh and Khunti jointly won the first prize for maintaining cleanliness in the year 2020-2021. These three hospitals will win a cash award of Rs.50 lakh each under the Kayakalp award scheme of the Centre.
Besides the three district hospitals, at least 32 Public Healthcare Centres (PHCs), 28 Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs), and four Community Health Centres (CHCs) were awarded with Kayakalp in an award function at National Health Mission (NHM) campus in Ranchi on Thursday.
Giving away the awards, Gupta urged public hospitals to keep striving for better facilities and hygiene in their campus to ensure that patients do not feel any reluctance in getting treated there. “Hospitals should be sensitive not only towards the patients but also while handling their attendants,” said Gupta, adding that the environment at any public hospital should be welcoming so that patients do not have to think twice before getting admitted.
“Hospitals have done a commendable job in treating Covid patients in Jharkhand at a time when the nature of the disease did not even allow family members of patients to come close to them,” the Minister said, lauding healthcare workers for their contribution in the fight against Covid-19.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the Kayakalp award scheme in June 2015 to encourage hygienic practices at public healthcare facilities as a part of the Centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission.
While the winners in the district level will get Rs.50 lakh each, the winning CHC will get Rs.15 lakh and the runner up will get Rs.10 lakh, a press communique from the health department stated. Rs.2 lakh will be awarded to the best performing PHC and Rs.1 lakh to the best performing HWC, the communique added.
The state has been giving away the Kayakalp awards to hospitals since 2015. Gumla District Hospital won the award in 2015, followed by Deoghar District Hospital in 2016, East Singhbhum District Hospital in 2017 and Godda District Hospital in 2018. The state gave away awards for 2019 and 2020 on Thursday as most award ceremonies remained suspended due to Covid-19 since March 2020.
The winners were decided on the basis of an assessment by the State Award Nomination Committee, which only nominated such hospitals that got more than 70 per cent positive rating from patients, attendants and other neutral entities.
