Thiruvananthapuram: Health Minister Veena George on Tuesday claimed the state has not been receiving funds from the Union Government for the National Health Mission (NHM) project. 

"The allocation for several important initiatives in FY 2023-2024 has yet to be received from the centre. As a result, NHM's operations in the state have gone astray. The centre will fund 60 per cent of the NHM project, with the state covering the other 40 per cent. In this ratio, the central government must set aside Rs 826.2 crore for various projects. Furthermore, the centre should allocate Rs 371.20 crore as a cash grant, which ought to be received in four instalments. However, the dates for allocating three instalments have already passed," she said. 

"We have set aside our share to the project. NHM's work continued for the past two months with the aforementioned amount. However, the incentives for Asha Workers and health staffers' pay have not been disturbed. We communicated the problem to the centre. However, they claim that this was due to co-branding. The centre demands that we include its logo along with the state government's logo on health centres," she stated. 

"We have also completed 99 per cent of co-branding. Still, the centre has yet to release its funds for the same. The proposal to rename the health centres as 'Ayushman Arogya Mandir' came later in December. However, we cannot accept this request as it affects language and culture. This might be the reason for not releasing the fund, she added. 

Meanwhile, Veena George also dismissed the reports that there is a shortage of medicines in public hospitals. She described it as media propaganda and stated that the expense incurred by the department for the same has only increased.