Swachh Bharat: Hygiene awards for healthcare centres

In a move aimed at promoting cleanliness, hygiene and infection-control practices in public healthcare centres, the Union Health Ministry has planned to award hospitals under the <g data-gr-id="23">Swachh</g> Bharat <g data-gr-id="24">Abhiyaan</g> -- a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda will launch the first-of-its-kind initiative christened ‘Kayakalp’ on Friday. He will also release ‘Swachhata’ guidelines for these facilities on the occasion. Under the scheme, public health facilities will get an award of up to Rs 50 lakh for their performance in sanitation, cleanliness and infection-control practices. According to government officials, the initiative is the ministry’s contribution to the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’.

The initiative aims to incentivise facilities that show exemplary performance in adhering to standard protocols of cleanliness and infection control, as well as inculcate a culture of performance review as regards to hygiene, cleanliness and sanitation. The number of awards proposed under the scheme is for two best district hospitals in each state, two best community health centres (CHC) or sub-district hospitals, which would be limited to one in small states. Apart from these categories, under the third category, the ministry will felicitate one primary health centre in every district.

According to Health Ministry officials, in the first category, the first and second district hospitals will be awarded Rs 50 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, respectively, while for the CHC category, the first facility will be given Rs 15 lakh and the second Rs 10 lakh. For the last category, PHC, the winner will be awarded Rs 2 lakh. The official added that <g data-gr-id="41">certificate</g> of commendation and cash award would also be given to such facilities that score over 70 per cent. 

“The awards would be distributed based on the performance of the facility on sanitation and hygiene, infection control, hospital upkeep, waste management and community participation. <g data-gr-id="39">Assessment</g> would be done sequentially through a <g data-gr-id="34">three tier</g> system - internal assessment followed by peer assessment and then external assessment,” a ministry official said. A state-level award committee will be constituted under the health secretary or mission <g data-gr-id="38">director,</g> while a three to <g data-gr-id="37"><g data-gr-id="36">five-member</g></g> committee at the district-level will be constituted under the district magistrate or the Chief Medical Officer (CMO).