The Union Health Ministry on Friday directed states and union territories to focus on expansion of the Prime Minister’s National Dialysis Program (PM-NDP) in all districts of all states and union territories.
Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, in a virtual meeting with states, made physical and financial progress under National Health Mission (NHM), Emergency COVID Response Package (ECRP)-II, Prime Minister’s Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) reviewed. 15th Finance Commission Grants and Prime Minister’s National Dialysis Program (PM-NDP).
“In order to expand the coverage of the Prime Minister’s National Dialysis Program (PMNDP) across the country, the states were asked to cover all districts by the hemodialysis program and promote the peritoneal dialysis program as it is less restrictive for patients and require less technical demand from institutions. ,” the health ministry said in the statement.
The Center informed the States/UTs about the status of implementation and disbursement of funds under NHM, various projects under ECRP-II package and programs under PM-ABHIM. The meeting also focused on expanding the 100% coverage of the National Dialysis Program.
States were also advised to make extensive use of PMNDP Portal, which is an API based IT platform to capture details of all beneficiaries availing free dialysis services under PMNDP. To prevent duplication and ensure transparency, efficiency and inter-operability, states were asked to ensure registration using the 14-digit unique Aura ID. They were also requested to share the API and integrate it with the PMNDP portal if different portals are used for overall coverage.
Bhushan highlighted that in order to ensure the implementation of programs and initiatives, the government resources allocated under the National Health Mission (NHM) should be utilized swiftly and efficiently.
He urged the States/UTs to provide necessary documents/Utilization Certificates as per the utilization of funds and ensure refund of the unutilized amount. States were also urged to map these transfers on the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) portal.
Highlighting the various initiatives and steps taken by the Government of India to ensure affordable, accessible and equitable public health services across the country,
To develop the capacity of health systems and institutions in the continuum of care at all levels, primary, secondary, tertiary level and prepare health systems to deal effectively with current and future pandemics/disasters, an amount of Rs. 64,180 crore has been allocated for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 under PM-ABHIM.
Emphasizing on utilization of these funds for capital expenditure, States/UTs were requested to expedite proposals and send MoUs under PM-ABHIM to Union Health Ministry so that the Ministry can release funds to the States in time . To ensure mapping of physical and financial progress, States were requested to identify physical facilities and complete the mapping exercise on the NHM-Progress Monitoring System (PMS) portal at the earliest.
Highlighting the need to expedite the utilization of funds released under ECRP-II package, States were informed that 100% of the Central Share amount has been released to the States. While informing the States about the status of their expenditure under ECRP-II, they were again urged to complete the mapping of approvals on the NHM-PMS portal and review the position from time to time.
The States/UTs were also advised that instead of taking the approval of the Union Health Ministry, the State Health Societies (SHSs) have been authorized to grant the balance clearance of activities under ECRP-II. Finally, States were requested that all activities under ECRP-II scheme should be completed by 31st December 2022.