Nod for construction of permanent buildings for 4,472 Village Health Clinics in Andhra Pradesh 

Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Y. Satya Kumar has given the nod for construction of permanent buildings for 4,472 Village Health Clinics (VHCs) at a cost of ₹1,129 crore (80% of it to be borne by the Centre) and has ordered that they be completed in one year.

As on date, the State has 10,032 operational VHCs in 26 districts, but only 1,086 clinics are functional government buildings.

Keeping this in view, the government has okayed the allocation of ₹1,129 crore for constructing permanent buildings for 4,472 clinics, which includes the completion of 2,309 buildings whose construction has been stopped midway in 2019-24 due to delayed release of funds.

In addition, 2,163 new buildings will be constructed — 696 under the PM-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission and 1,467 using the 15th Finance Commission grants.

Addressing a meeting on Thursday, Mr. Satya Kumar said the constructions would be undertaken by the Panchayat Raj Department, and that the previous government could get only 3,105 buildings completed out of the 8,946 planned to be constructed in 2019-24.

Construction of another 2,309 buildings commenced with funds under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and National Health Mission, but were left incomplete.

The Minister noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the Ayushman Health Centres for strengthening healthcare at the village ,level and as part of it, the Centre was extending large-scale financial assistance to the Andhra Pradesh Government for taking up the construction of permanent buildings for VHCs.