Even as the central government has released the first tranche of National Health Mission (NHM) funds after ending the impasse with the Punjab government over the naming of health and wellness clinics (HWCs), the fate of the state’s share is worth over ₹621 crore frozen for the financial year 2023-24 is in balance.

The Center stopped NHM funds for Punjab in February 2023, claiming that the Mann government had branded centrally sponsored health and wellness clinics as Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs). Since then, the center has not released funds on the measure ₹621 crore, even though it would have to bear 60% of the expenditure as per NHM’s funding model, said a senior Punjab health department official.

The deadlock that lasted over a year and a half ended on Tuesday with the Union government releasing the first installment of the ₹123 million. According to senior health officials, the funds released are for the current financial year.

“What can be the loss of the state is ₹621 million euros that the state had to get for 2023-2024. There is no written clarity on the issue from the center yet, but the state may lose this as Union Health Ministry officials have indicated that since Punjab has changed the names of health and wellness centres, it should not get the quota from the moment the dispute started,” said a senior official.

The latest installment was launched after the Punjab government, in a reversal from its earlier stand, agreed to remove Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s photo from over 600 clinics, formerly known as Aam Aadmi Clinics (AAC).

The state government agreed to rename the health clinics as Ayushman Arogya Kendras and also agreed to do away with the AAC tag. Now the center will do its own branding on these clinics.

The state will continue to use the image of the CM on the AACs that have been established by the own state. While Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh was not available for comment, a senior health official who was part of the deliberations with the Union Health Ministry on the NHM fund dispute revealed that after the settlement issue, strongly supported Punjab’s decision. case to obtain funds for 2023-24.

“It is a fact that the Union Health Ministry has indicated that it has not made payments for the previous year, but we have decided to file our case again,” the senior official said.