Own buildings to be constructed for all Janakeeya Arogya Kendras in Keralam: Minister
Health Minister K. Muraleedharan inaugurates construction of 16 Janakeeya Arogya Kendras and one Municipal Health Centre.
Steps are being taken to ensure that all Janakeeya Arogya Kendras (JAKs) in Kerala have their own buildings, Health Minister K. Muraleedharan said.
He inaugurated the construction of 16 JAKs and one Municipal Health Center in the district at Peringamala Family Health Center in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday (October 7, 2026). This is a project that has been included in the 100-day action plan of the Kerala government.
The government has decided to make 100 essential medicines available for free through JAK. Hospitals have also been ordered to make local purchases in case a drug is not enough.
JAK are the institutions at the local level that are closest to the people in the public health system. There are currently 5,416 JAKs in the state, with one JAK for every 5,000 population and each manned by one Junior Nurse, Junior Health Inspector and Intermediate Service Provider who is a trained Bachelor of Nursing. Janakeeya Arogya Samitis has been formed at each JAK to plan, supervise and control health related activities involving the people.
Lifestyle disease or NCD (non-communicable disease) clinics, well-woman clinics, priority home visits and group patient support services are made available to the public through these centres.
The centers also operate a ‘Fixed Day Fixed Clinic’ system which provides specific services every day of the week and provides home screening, home care, referral to higher level hospitals when needed and follow-up care.
Fixed day clinics and home screening ensure services are available at people’s fingertips.
The ‘Hridayaragam’ campaign, launched for early detection and prevention of diseases, will be extended to Vamanapuram constituency in the next phase, Mr. Muraleedharan said.
He stated that the government’s goal is to further strengthen the public health system and make quality treatment and care available to people.
New posts
Moves are underway to create approximately 1,800 new physician positions and about 500 nurse and pharmacist positions in the state’s public health system. Steps are also underway to improve facilities in government medical teaching hospitals to make more beds available to people
Sudheer Shah, Palode MLA, Peringamala panchayat president PN Arunkumar, Vamanapuram block panchayat president Raghunathan Nair, DMO Bindu Mohan and health department staff were present among others.
Published – 7 Oct 2026 20:07 IST