Kerala: The Kerala Health Department has upgraded 50 primary health centres (PHC) into Family Health Centres (FHC) as part of the Ardram Mission, aimed at modernising and improving primary healthcare in the state. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday inaugurated the FHCs in Thiruvananthapuram on 17th April 2023.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday inaugurated 50 Family Health Centres (FHC) as part of the Ardram Mission of the Left government, aimed at modernising and improving primary healthcare in the state.
Vijayan said the public health system in Kerala has become a source of pride for the country at a time when the rightwing was attempting to privatise the health sector of the nation.
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"Inaugurated 50 Family Health Centres (FHC) as part of Ardram Mission that aims to modernise and improve primary healthcare in Kerala. With 630 PHCs already upgraded to FHCs and 104 receiving national recognition, our public health system is becoming a source of pride for India," Vijayan tweeted.
In his speech, Vijayan said the state's health budget, which stood at Rs 665 crore in 2016 has been increased to Rs 2,828 crore now, which shows the importance given to the health sector by his government. The Ardram Mission was launched in 2016 to make hospitals patient-friendly and modernise the health sector in the state.
As per a recent media report in TNIE, out of the PHCs that are converted to FHCs, seven are in Thiruvananthapuram, two in Kollam, four in Pathanamthitta, two in Alappuzha, one in Kottayam, one in Idukki, three in Ernakulam, three in Thrissur, seven in Palakkad, eight in Malappuram, three in Kozhikode, one in Kannur and eight in Kasaragod. The conversion will help the institutions to become more people-friendly by improving their infrastructure and services. There are 580 FHCs in the state.
"The aim was to convert 886 public health centres into FHCs. Currently, a total of 630 PHCs have been converted into FHCs. Out of which 104 have received the national quality accreditation too," Vijayan noted.
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