Hosps asked to submit funds utilization docu by Sept 15
Times of India | 17 September 2024
Kolkata: The state health department has asked all the principals and chief medical health officers (CMOHs) to submit the utilization certificates of funds by Sept 19 for the first three quarters of the current fiscal via emails.
The state had already released 43.3% of the funds allocated for healthcare services in rural and urban areas in the first three quarters for utilization till Dec, the department stated.Out of the total budgetary allocation of Rs 1,161.1 crore till Dec, Rs 503 crore has been released. This move comes at a time when agitating junior doctors have alleged inadequate health infrastructure. Sources said the officials wanted to review whether the funds disbursed for drugs, hospital consumables and general equipment so far had been utilized properly or not.
An official revealed that in the previous years the utilization certificates were not asked to be furnished by mid-Sept. Rather, these were usually submitted at the end of the fiscal. It was decided that in case a hospital had failed to utilize the allocated funds during the period, it would not receive further grants for the last quarter and the same would be given to other hospitals, the official revealed.
“It has been found that there is a haste to exhaust the funds towards the last quarter by many principals and CMOHs,” a health official said. Generally, 67% of the funds were released for the first three quarters till Dec, an official said. The state has released Rs 152.1 crore for rural drugs out of Rs 330.7 crore so far. “Out of 65.3 crore, Rs 30.8 crore had been released for rural health consumables. Funds worth Rs 212.4 crore has been released out of Rs 520.9 crore for equipment so far,” the official said. The official, however, said the release of funds for urban drugs and hospital consumables had been low. “Only Rs 92.5 crore has been released for urban drugs out of Rs 216 crore. For urban hospital consumables, only 44.5% funds have been released,” he added. Some CMOHs and medical officers complained about shortages of essential medicines in the govt hospitals and health centres.