On October 11, 2019, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare(MoHFW) felicitated the 2019 Kayakalp awards in New Delhi during the national felicitation ceremony of Kayakalp awardees (2018-19). All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi won the first prize of Rs 3 crores  under the government’s Kayakalp scheme for 2018-19 in central government hospitals ‘A’ category.Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry was the runner up and was awarded Rs 1.5 cores. The Kayakalp award is felicitated to public health facilities in terms of hygiene and cleanliness.
Key points
i. B category: In terms of B category hospitals, Shri VinobaBhave Civil Hospital (VBCH), Silvassa of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, won first prize-winning Rs 2 crore, where AIIMS Bhubaneswar won Rs 1 crore as a runner up.
ii. Commendation awards:
- In the ‘A’ category, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh and Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi won the Commendation Award of Rs. 50 Lakh each.
- Similarly in ‘B’ category, North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), Shillong, Meghalaya, Lokpriya GopinathBordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health (LGBRIMH,) Tezpur, Assam, and AIIMS Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh each won ₹Rs 50 lakh as Commendation Award.
iii. Coffee table book: Dr Harsh Vardhan and Minister of State(MoS) for health & Family Welfare(HFW) released the Kayakalp Coffee Table book which documents the success journeys of the award-winning health facilities.
iv. District Hospitals, Primary Healthcare Centers (PHC) and Community Health Centers(CHC) were felicitated awards, wherein 29 hospitals won the 1st prize, 14 were awarded 2nd prize and 2 hospitals won 3rd prize. 11 private health facilities were also awarded during the event.
v. Members present: Smt. Preeti Sudan, Secretary (Health) and Dr. Brijendra Kumar Rao, Chairman of National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH), and other representatives were present at the event.
About Kayakalp award:
Instituted: 15th May 2015 as part of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan(Clean India Mission)
Parameters: The parameters in which the award is facilitated are Hospital/Facility Upkeep, Sanitation and hygiene, waste management,infection control,support services and hygiene promotion.
The number of facilities under Kayakalp rose from 750 health facilities in 2015-16 to more than 26,000 facilities in 2018-19.