CM asks public representatives to adopt health centres

AFTER CM’S APPEAL, MINISTER SC DWIVEDI ANNOUNCED ADOPTION OF A CHC

: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has urged all the public representatives, including MPs, legislators, mayors, district panchayat presidents and others, to adopt a community health centre/primary health centre and health/wellness centres in their respective areas to bring about an improvement in their conditions.

At a high-level meeting convened to review Covid-19 situation here on Sunday, Yogi said the MPs/legislators should contribute their MPLAD/Vidhayak Nidhi funds for the upkeep of these centres and visit adopted centres twice a month. The CM reiterated his appeal during his tour of some eastern UP districts on Monday.

Uttar Pradesh has nearly 3,000 primary health centres (PHCs) and nearly 8,50 community health centres (CHCs).

A considerable number of them have dilapidated buildings and also need staff and medical equipment.

This became evident when minister for basic education Satish Chand Dwivedi announced adoption of a CHC and said he would like to get a new building for Itwa CHC in his assembly constituency in Siddharthnagar after getting old building demolished.

“Following chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s call, I have adopted Itwa CHC today (Monday). My priority is to get a new building constructed after demolishing the dilapidated hospital building. I have been

making consistent efforts for this,” said Dwivedi in a tweet.

“I will continue to make inspection of CHC Itwa on regular intervals. Action will be taken against those found responsible in case any laxity was found. I have provided oxygen concentrators of Rs 25 lakh to district hospital and hospitals in my constituency are using my Vidhayak Nidhi funds,” he said. Former minister and Samajwadi Party leader Manoj Kumar Pandey though called CM’s appeal a welcome move but said the state government needed to open the CHCs/ PHCs that were lying closed.

“I got two new CHCs/PHCs constructed in Unchahar assembly constituency of Rae Bareli in 2016. These included a PHC at Hanumanganj in Rohania block in Unchahar. I inaugurated a CHC at Jalalpur Ghai with new medical equipment. The CHC has remained locked since then. There are no docSingh, tors and the state government needs to open them,” said Pandey. “We have allocated funds for ventilators, oxygen concentrator, oxygen cylinders and oximeters etc. for PHCs and CHCs in our area. But nothing has been done despite allocation of funds about 20 days ago. Legislators are trying their best and doing their duty for the people. The state government should also fulfil its moral responsibility,” said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Kumar Lallu. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also urged MPs to adopt a village in their constituencies. As an MP, Yogi Adityanath too had adopted a village in his constituency in Gorakhpur.

CM knows that nothing worked out for the adopted village and his appeal to adopt CHCs/PHCs may be treated a joke,” said senior Congress leader Deepak Singh. The state government had placed the MLA local area development fund (Vidhayak Nidhi) under suspension in 2020-2021 to fund fight against Covid-19. The state government restored the Vidhayak Nidhi and released first instalment of Rs 750 crore (2021-2022) on March 12, 2021.

A legislator is entitled to allocate funds of Rs 3 crore from the fund for different works in their constituency in a financial year. A Member of Parliament is entitled to allocate Rs 5 crore from the MPLAD fund.