Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala on Tuesday urged the Centre to provide the overdue grant of over Rs 600 crore and to sanction the first installment of the current financial year for the operations of the National Health Mission (NHM) in the state.

The office of the state Health Minister, Veena George, said that she has written to Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda regarding this matter.

"The minister has requested that the cash grant of Rs 637 crore, which was supposed to be received for the financial year 2023-24, along with the first installment of the current financial year, should be sanctioned for the operations of the NHM in the state," an official release said.

The state government informed the Centre that due to the non-allocation of central funds to Kerala, many areas of the health sector are facing difficulties.

This has affected various sectors like emergency ambulance services, biomedical equipment, salaries of NHM staff, incentives for ASHA workers, palliative care, dialysis, etc., the release said.

Currently, these services are operating with funds from the state government.

Therefore, the minister requested that the amount be released as soon as possible, the release added