The Hindu 13.04.2013
Health awards for local bodies
First Arogyakeralam awards
The government has declared the first Arogyakeralam
awards for local bodies for excellence in conceptualising and
implementing innovative health projects at the community level and for
making the best use of the Plan funds allotted for health projects as
envisaged under the Comprehensive Health Plan.
Kollam,
Thiruvananthapuram, and Ernakulam won the first, second, and third
places respectively in the category of best district panchayats. In the
block panchayat segment, Veliayanad block of Alappuzha won the first
place, Kaduthuruthi block in Kottayam came second, and Sultan Bathery in
Wayanad took the third spot.
Among grama panchayats,
Kattoor grama panchayat in Thrissur emerged first, Maneed in Ernakulam
won the second position, and Poyya grama panchayat in Thrissur came
third.
In the category of municipalities,
Neyyattinkara secured the first prize, Nedumangad came second, and
Ernakulam municipality won the third position.
Kochi
was adjudged the best in the category of Corporations. Thrissur came
second. Apart from these, the best grama panchayat in each district will
get a cash award of Rs.5 lakh. The panchayat in the next position will
get Rs.3 lakh.
Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar who
announced the awards said that Arogyakeralam award was being given as an
incentive in appreciation for the efforts put in by the local bodies in
taking government’s health care projects to the grassroots.
The
Comprehensive Health Plan is a novel initiative of the Health
Department, envisaged with the aim of decentralising the health sector
in such a way that every local body would identify their health
priorities at the grassroots level and come up with innovative ways to
tackle the issues locally itself, with people’s participation.
Criteria
The
criteria for the awards included effective utilisation of the Plan
funds for health; the number of health projects; the benefits,
efficiency and novelty of the projects; level of community involvement
in projects; completion of projects before March 31 deadline; the rate
of prevalence of infectious diseases; and the percentage of children who
were fully immunised.
A specially designed software
was used for data analysis and for the first stage of selection,
following which a committee headed by the Director of Health Services
scrutinised the reports of each local body to select the best.
Cash awards
The
best district panchayats, block panchayats and grama panchayats will
receive a cash award of Rs.10 lakh for the first position, Rs.5 lakh for
the second and Rs.3 lakh for the third position.
The Corporation which came first will receive Rs.10 lakh and the one which came second, Rs.5 lakh.
Arogyakeralam awards will be distributed by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at a function to be held here on April 16, Tuesday.
