Kolkata: The Centre has allotted Rs 361 crore for Bengal under the National Health Mission after it had withheld the funds as the Mamata Banerjee government refused to name Health and wellness centers as ‘Ayushman Arogya Kendra’. For the wellbeing of the people of Bengal, the state government has recently agreed to fulfill the condition set by the Centre and the health and wellness centers were renamed as ‘Ayushman Arogya Kendra’. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently had also expressed concern over the matter during a Cabinet meeting in this regard earlier this year. She reportedly told her Cabinet colleagues that the BJP-led Centre has been “saffronising” everything.
Meanwhile, the Mamata Banerjee government has spent Rs 1,300 crore under the NHM in the current fiscal so far while the Centre has allotted only Rs 280 crore. The Centre is supposed to bear the cost of NHM at a 60:40 ratio but it has allegedly stopped providing funds allegedly flouting the norms. Out of the total cost of around Rs 1,600 crore, Centre was supposed to pay around Rs 960 crore and state Rs 640. But in reality, the state had to spend more than 2/3 of the cost.