Limited by the existing policy of setting up health infrastructure only on land available free of cost, the Uttar Pradesh government, in a major policy haul, has allowed the “purchase of land” for setting up health centres in cases where an appropriate land parcel is not available free. Officials said that the new policy would help the government to expand the public health infrastructure in urban areas and ensure that health centres are not constructed in far-off places, but instead in populated areas. It would also resolve the issue of health staff avoiding staying at health centres that are located in far-off places, said officials. The new policy – the Cabinet gave its nod last week – not only defines “appropriateness of land parcels” for different categories of health centres, but also allows “purchase of land” in cases, where appropriate land parcel is not available free of cost. “To my mind, this is a path-breaking and transformational reform for the health sector, which will have a profound and a long-term impact on the public health scenario,” said Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad. “Under the existing policy, construction of health centres or hospitals is undertaken on land available free of cost and there is no provision to purchase land for the purpose. But following the non-availability of land free of cost, it becomes difficult to start the construction in time. Sometimes, free of cost land is available at inappropriate places and the staff finds it helpless to reside there,” the new policy, which was notified last Friday, stated. Sources in the government said that while the state Health Department got sanctions to build 2,100 health sub-centres across the state, it was able to get land only for about 300 sub-centres as it was facing difficulty in finding land free of cost near the city or populated areas. As per the new policy, a health sub-centre has to be built within 100 metres from the defined habited regions and on a proper road, whereas a primary health centre can be built within 500 meters of the declared “populated region” on a proper road. A community health centre can be developed in a significant town area and within 1 km of the declared populated region, and for district hospitals or hospitals with 50-bed facilities, the land should be chosen within two kilometres of the concerned local body defined “abadi” (populated) region, as per the notified policy. The new policy has also outlined the sequence of checking the availability of land. The first attempt would be made to take the gram samaj or any other government land for the construction of these health units, it said, adding that after that priority would be given to land given as a donation. “In this case, the person donating the land would be allowed to put a plaque in the name of their relatives on the concerned health centre,” the policy stated. “The third priority would be given to those, who would be ready to provide their land at an appropriate location against the available government land. In case, the appropriate land would not be available on any of these conditions, then the land could be purchased for setting up of these health centres on the given norms,” the policy stated. As per the new policy, the purchase or acquisition of the land would be done through a committee headed by the concerned district magistrate with the chief medical officer and chief development officer as its members.
