Godda District Hospital won a cash prize of Rs .50 lakh on Tuesday under the Kayakalp scheme of the Centre, which is aimed at encouraging public health facilities to maintain cleanliness and hygiene. Introduced in 2015 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Kayakalp awards are given to district hospitals and health centres that maintain cleanliness and hygiene throughout the year by taking extra initiatives.
Addressing the award ceremony on Tuesday in Ranchi, Health Minister Ramchandra Chanrdvanshi said, “All public hospitals should try their level best to maintain cleanliness and win the Kaykalp Award. The award generates a sense of competition among the hospitals and encourages them to strive for maintaining cleanliness.”
While Godda District Hospital performed the best in Jharkhand, East Singbhum, Ranchi, Deoghar and Gumla district hospitals won Rs 3 lakh each. Addressing the award function, Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said that at least 314 health and wellness centres in Jharkhand have been upgraded for better facilities and cleanliness in the recent past.
“The Government is consistently working towards raising the bar for cleanliness and hygiene in Government-run hospitals here.
The hospitals that have won the award should try to maintain their performance, while the ones who have not won the award should try hard to win it the next time,” said Kulkarni, adding that at least 100 hospitals should win the award next year.
National Health Mission (NHM) Director Dr. Shailesh Kumar Chourasia said that achieving success in the field of health care and cleanliness has to be a joint effort of all the stakeholders. On May 15, 2015, then Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, J. P. Nadda launched Kayakalp – an initiative for awards to public health facilities. The Health Minister also released the Swachhta Guidelines for Public Health Facilities.
Five awards are given under this scheme. The awards are given to the best two district hospitals in each state, the best two community health centres and sub district hospitals and one primary health centre in every district.
First rank and second rank awardees at district level hospital get Rs 50 lakh and Rs 20 lakh respectively. WhileRs 15 lakh and Rs 10 lakh are proposed for community health centres or sub district hospitals for the same criteria and winner at primary health centre gets Rs 2 lakh under this scheme.
Certificate of Commendation and cash award are also given to such facilities that score over 70 per cent in the evaluation, but do not make it to the list of top facilities in a particular year. This amount is Rs 3 lakh for district hospitals, Rs 1 lakh for community health centres or sub district hospitals and Rs .50, 000 for primary health centre.