Health Ministry Kayakalp Awards

The Kayakalp Awards are presented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare annually to the health facilities with the highest standards of sanitation and hygiene. Recently, the Kayakalp awards for the year 2019-20 was presented.

Key Highlights

• The Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) was awarded the second prize under the Kayakalp Awards scheme. JIPMER received the prize under the Group A Central facilities category, hospitals having more than thousand beds. Earlier, it had received second place in 2018-19 and third place in 2017-18.
• AIIMS Bhubaneswar has received the best central government hospital under Category B of the Kayakalp Awards for cleanliness for the third consecutive time. Earlier, it had received the award in 2018 and 2019 becoming the second cleanliest hospital in the country. Category B holds hospitals with less than thousand beds.
• The Rairangpur Sub Divisional Hospital of Mayurbhanj district was felicitated as the best Sub-divisional hospital community health centre category.
• Rani Durgavati Hospital received the award for the fourth time consecutively.

What are the factors considered to present Kayakalp Awards?

Waste Management, Hospital Upkeep, Sanitation and Hygiene, Infection Control, hygiene promotion, support services and beyond hospital boundary.

When was the Kayakalp Award Scheme launched?

2015.

What are the objectives of Kayakalp Awards Scheme?

• The scheme aims to incentivize public health care facilities that show high performance in following protocols, infection control, cleanliness and sanitation.
• It inculcates a culture of peer review of performance related to sanitation, hygiene, infection control.
• It shares and create sustainable practices related to improving cleanliness in public health facilities.

What is Swachh Swasth Sarvatra? How is it related to Kayakalp Awards?

Swachh Swasth Sarvatra scheme was launched in 2016. The main objective of Swachh Swasth Sarvatra is to strengthen community health centres in open defecation blocks, especially in the region of those Public Health Centres or hospitals that have received the Kayakalp Awards. The following are the three main objectives of Swachh Swasth Sarvatra:

• To enable Gram Panchayats where the Kayakalp awarded Public Health Centres are located to become Open Defecation Free.
• To strengthen the Public Health Centres to reach the Kayakalp standards through support of Rs 10 lakhs under the National Health Mission.
• To build capacity through training in sanitation, water and hygiene.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2021