Center Working in the spirit of co-operative federalism with Mandaviya

New Delhi, Aug 16 : The Central government is working in the spirit of co-operative federalism with the states and union territories to create a multi-tier health infrastructure Union Health Minister Mansukh Mansuriya said on Tuesday.

Mandaviya also assessed the progress of the national Covid-19 vaccination campaign with emphasis on the precaution doses within Covid Vaccination Amrit Mahotsav.In announcing the successes of Covid vaccination Mandaviya called on the states and UTs to increase coverage of precaution doses for people of 18 years and over within the scope of Covid vaccination Amrit Mahotsava.

He recommended that they make widely known the availability of heterologous doses of protection of CorBEvax vaccine and to organize vaccination camps in public areas.Mandaviya has said that the spread of the disease made us aware of the need to invest in critical infrastructure for health care in every block and district.

He said that the Central government is committed to assisting states and UTs in their efforts to provide affordable, affordable, high-quality and fair public healthcare services to citizens.Concerned about the lower utilization of central funds in certain states, he noted that "instead of the Centre looking into the low fund use, states must to improve their performance and swiftly seek funding from the Centre to accelerate the implementation of health programs".

He said that a variety of flexibility has been granted to states to ensure timely use of the funds and for the development of health infrastructure in the flagship programmes and packages.The funds from ECRP-II have to be used quickly as the package will be available until December 2022.he said.

States and UTs were directed to ensure that all doses of vaccine are used according to the principle of the FEFO (First Expiry First Out) principle to avoid expiration of the vaccines.Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Saha and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia attended the meeting.

The state Health Ministers who attended the meeting comprised Rajiv Saizal (Himachal Pradesh), Veena George (Kerala), K.Sudhakar (Karnataka), Dhan Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand), Vidadhala Rajani (Andhra Pradesh), Keshab Mahanta (Assam), Alo Libang (Arunachal Pradesh), Anil Vij (Haryana), Banna Gupta (Jharkhand), Mani Kumar Sharma (Sikkim), Thiru Ma Subramanian (Tamil Nadu), T.Harish Rao (Telangana), T.S.Singh Deo (Chhattisgarh), Thiru N.Rangasamy (Puducherry), L.Jayantakumar Singh (Manipur), James K.Sangma (Meghalaya), Parsadi Lal Meena (Rajasthan), Brijesh Pathak (Uttar Pradesh), Prabhuram Choudhary (Madhya Pradesh), Rushikesh Patel (Gujarat) and Nimisha Suthar, MoS, Health (Gujarat).This was one of an ongoing series of meetings led by Health Minister to assess the progress and speed up the utilisation of central funds for states in various schemes and packages.

Bharati Pravin Pawar Minister of State for Health, was also present in the meeting.avr/pgh .