Centre, Punjab agree to end deadlock over NHM funds

The Punjab Government and the Centre have reportedly agreed to end the deadlock over central funding for the community health centres in the state that had been held up for over a year over the state government renaming and projecting these as its own ventures.

According to sources, the state government will rename the Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs) across the state and remove Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s photograph from their logo, following which it will receive pending funds under the National Health Mission (NHM) from the Centre.

The state government is expected to get about Rs 650 crore under the NHM, which had been held back for about 18 months due to a tussle between the Centre and the state over the name and the logo of the clinics. There are approximately 870 AACs in the state and about half of them that do not come under the jurisdiction of the state Health Department would be affected by the changes.

In February 2023, the Centre had stopped NHM funds to Punjab on the grounds that the AAP-led state government was branding centrally sponsored health schemes as AACs.

The state government branded the Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres as Aam Aadmi Clinic, which the Centre averred violated the provisions of the pact signed between the Union Health Ministry and the state government.

Punjab Government sources said during the talks with the Centre over the issue, it was agreed that the state would make changes in the AACs’ name and also add the Centre’s flagship scheme, Ayushman Bharat, on the AAC boards. The state government is also claiming another Rs 1,100 crore as special assistance by the Centre.