Kolkata: The Centre has allegedly stopped providing funds under the National Health Mission projects in Bengal affecting the crucial services related to the nutrition of pregnant women and newborns, and their vaccination.
Bengal is supposed to spend a total of Rs 2,200 crore for various projects under the National Health Mission (NHM) in this financial year, around 60 per cent of which should be given by the Centre.
The amount from the Centre would be around Rs 1,320 crore. State is expected to bear a cost of around Rs 840 crore for NHM. But the Narendra Modi government has not given any funds so far to Bengal.
According to sources, in the current financial year, the Centre has only provided Rs 280 crore out of which around Rs 75 crore was spent for paying the salaries of the employees working under the NHM. The state has found it difficult to ensure ambulance facilities for pregnant women free of cost under the NHM as the Centre has allegedly stopped giving the funds.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Santanu Sen alleged that the Centre has been trying to weaken the health infrastructure in Bengal. “What the state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has done in the health sector is a role model. The Centre owes the state about Rs 1,15,000 crore under various heads. Now, it has also stopped funds for the NHM,” he said.
In the 2021-22 financial year, the state submitted a project implementation plan worth Rs 3,301 crore to the NHM, and the Centre had approved projects worth Rs 2,738 crore. The Centre was supposed to give 60 per cent of the total project cost while the rest had to be borne by the state government.