Coimbatore will get seven new health centres if the plans drawn up by the Corporation are anything to go by. According to Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan, the civic body will get three with financial assistance by the Central Government and four from the State Government.
The three, to be established at Rs. 42 lakh each, will be under the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM). The four were the fallout of the announcement made by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa prior to the 2014 mayoral by-poll.
The Corporation has temporarily established the three new NUHM centres in Vilankurichi, Neelikonampalayam and Ganapathi Managar in rented buildings. Once the site identification process is complete, and the Corporation would construct the buildings with the Government-given funds to move the centres into permanent buildings, said an officer.
Likewise, the Corporation was also scouting for land for the four health centres the Chief Minister had announced. As part of the Chief Minister’s announcement, the Corporation would also take up improvement to the existing 20 maternity centres and 11 dispensaries - all at a cost of Rs. 7.10 crore.
Dr. Vijayakarthikeyan said that the Corporation was working out a mechanism to ensure that it used both the Central Government’s and State Government’s funds to improve the infrastructure and facilities in all the centres and dispensaries.
Aside from this, the Corporation would also get Rs. 10 lakh each to improve the amenities in the 20 health centres. This was also a part of the NUHM, said the officer.
The Corporation’s plan was that the new centres were established in such a way that the civic body was able to meet the Central Government’s norm of a health facility for every 50,000 population.
For this norm and a population of 16 lakh, the city would need 32 urban health centres. It had 20 at present, planned to add three under NUHM to take the total to 23. The remaining nine would come by way of transfer of administrative control of the rural primary health centres that were now under the control of the Deputy Director of Health Services but in Coimbatore Corporation limits.
The centres planned under the Chief Minister’s announcement would be over and above the NUHM norm, the officer added.
