Panchkula Civil Hospital gets accolades, but no prize money

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, April 23

The Civil Hospital in Sector 6has received multiple accolades in the past one year, but the prize money has eluded it. It is yet to receive Rs 50 lakh for being Haryana’s cleanest hospital last year under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’s Kaya Kalp award along with Rs 15 lakh per annum for the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) certification it received last year.

In March last year, the Kaya Kalp awards were 5announced, wherein, the hospital was declared the best in Haryana and was to get Rs 50 lakh as prize money for further development of the hospital. However, it is yet to receive a single penny from the Department Of Health and Family Welfare which had announced the award.

In June last year, the hospital became the first in the country to be given the NQAS certification. As per the written communication received from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the certification was granted following a thorough assessment by three-empanelled external assessors.

Following the assessment, the team had graded the hospital and it scored a total score of 83 per cent. The healthcare facilities of 18 departments of the hospital scored above 70 per cent marks and the hospital scored 97 per cent in facilities being provided under reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCH+A) services and A-2 standard. The hospital had also scored 64 per cent marks in quality management and 66 per cent in care and service quality of departments.

Health Minister Anil Vij had announced that the certification made the hospital eligible for getting Rs 3,000 per bed per year for three years. The total amount for the 300 -beded hospital comes out to be Rs 15 lakh per annum. However, even after more than a year of the award being announced, the hospital is yet to receive the money.

On April 3 this year, the hospital received a letter from the Ministry appreciating it for covering the few gaps that were observed during the initial assessment last year. The letter says, “It is heartening to note that the facility has closed the gaps observed during the initial assessment. Now, the hospital meets all certification criteria and is quality certified without any conditionality”.

However, the letter does not mention anything about the prize money that it is yet to give to the hospital. Principal Medical Officer Dr Veena Singh said, “We are awaiting the money for both these accolades, but it is up to the government.”