In what could pave the way for a direct confrontation with the Centre, the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to retain the “Samajwadi” name and logo on 108 ambulance services currently being run under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) schemes.
An official release said the state Cabinet had decided to continue with the Samajwadi Swasthya Sewa and the service would not be run with state government funds and a sum of `87.44 crore would be earmarked for this purpose in the state budget.
In a letter sent to the state government in June, the Centre had objected to the naming of the Emergency Medical Transport Service being run under NRHM as the Samajwadi Swasthya Sewa.
The Centre had clearly stated that all ambulances and mobile medical units running under NRHM would be branded as the National Ambulance Service and National Medical Mobile Unit.
The Union health ministry also issued guidelines on the colour, design and logo for the two services and officials said that this has been done to prevent the states from “hijacking” NRHM schemes.
In Uttar Pradesh, the ambulances run under the 108 scheme are known as Samajwadi Swasthya Sewa while the scheme for mobile medical units is called Mukhya Mantri Maha Maya Sachal Aspatal Yojana.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has now rejected the Centre’s guidelines, saying that the state government too has an equal right over the scheme and will run the services with our own funds.
However, consultants in NRHM’s state programme management unit say that the decision could spell trouble since the Union health ministry has already laid certain essential conditions to release the funds.
“Till we meet these conditions, they will not disburse the funds,” said a senior official.