The Union Ministry of Health has sanctioned an emergency relief of Rs.4.34 crore towards the implementation of the Attappady package, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar has said.
The Central allocation has come following talks Mr. Sivakumar had with Union Ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad and Jairam Ramesh in New Delhi, after submitting the Attappady project report, which was followed up when Union Health Secretary Keshav Desiraju visited the State last week.
An amount of Rs.56.03 lakh is being set aside for starting nutrition rehabilitation centres in various hospitals in Attappady, while Rs.34.47 lakhs has been allocated for strengthening neonatal intensive care at Kottathara tribal hospital and Agali community health centre.
Laboratory facilities at the Kottathara, Agali, Puthur hospitals will be strengthened at Rs.34.63 lakh.
An amount of Rs.189 lakh is being provided for the renovation of sub centres and another Rs.75 lakh has been allocated for the construction of buildings for four new sub centres.
Awareness drives
Health awareness programmes will be carried out as part of empowering the tribal communities, for which Rs.15 lakh has been allocated.
A new colour Doppler ultrasound machine is being purchased at Rs.8.45 lakh for the Kottathara hospital while more ECG machines will be acquired for primary health centres at Rs.78,000.
The Central allocation will be made available to the State through the National Rural Health Mission.
Mr. Sivakumar said that it had been decided to appoint additional Junior Public Health Nurses on contract basis in all 28 sub centres in the Attappady region.
Priority would be given to eligible tribal women in these appointments, he said.
