Dy Speaker directs Minister to come with correct info as MLA contests reply

Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Feb 7: The issue of providing ‘wrong’ information to the Members  once again surfaced in the Legislative Assembly when  MLA Wachi Aijaz Ahmad Mir contested the Government reply on his Calling Attention Notice with regard to in-position staff strength in some Health Centres in his constituency.
Even as the Minister for Health Bali Bhagat said that he would take action against the erring officers, Deputy Speaker Nazir Ahmad Gurezi, who was in the Chair, told him to come with correct information by tomorrow.
Alleging that some doctors, shown in the reply as ‘in-position’ in some Health Centres, were infact ‘absconding’ and had not been attending their duties since long, the MLA dared to offer resign if his claim was proven wrong.  He also named a few doctors, who have not been attending duties since long but shown as in-position in the official reply.
As the Health Minister insisted that he had provided the information, which was sought by the Member, the Deputy Speaker intervened and told the Minister to understand    gravity of the MLA’s concern and the fact that wrong information has been provided by the officers.
“The Member is saying that four Doctors are absconding but the reply is telling different position,” Gurezi said and directed the Minister to come with accurate reply tomorrow.
In his reply to the Calling Attention Notice, the Minister said that against sanctioned strength of 110 posts, 27 are vacant   in various insinuations including CHC Zainapora, PHC Herman, PHC D.K Pora, NTPHC Nadigam and Imamsahib.   He said 20 persons including doctors and paramedic staff have been provided to these health institutions under NHM, while steps are being taken to fill other vacant posts.
Earlier, in response to another Calling Attention Notice by MLA Rajouri Choudhary Qamar Hussain, the Health Minister informed the Legislative Assembly that the Government has referred 970 gazetted and 1291 Non Gazzetted vacancies to the recruiting agencies to fill the vacant posts in Health and Medical Education Department, even as 3375 new posts have been created for new Medical Colleges.
He  said that  970 gazetted posts referred include 371 Medical Officers Allopathic, 66 Homeopathic/Ayurvedic, 02 posts of Drug Control Organization, 201 Medical Education and 330 faculty posts for  five new Medical Colleges( 66 for each) to the J&K Public Service Commission for making selection.
He further said that the J&K Public Service Commission has recently uploaded the selection list of 371 Medical Officers (Allopathic) on its website and as and when the same is received by this department, efforts will be made to fill up these vacant posts judiciously.
Bali Bhagat further said that 1291 Non-Gazetted posts have also been referred to the concerned recruiting agencies for selection of suitable candidates and as and when the selection list is received from the concerned recruiting agencies, efforts will be made to fill up these vacancies.
He informed the House that in addition to these, 3375 posts of Gazetted/Non-Gazetted staff have been created for 5 (five) new Government Medical Colleges being established in the State. “Of these newly created 3375 posts, 330 posts of Assistant Professor/Lady officer/ Lecturer/ Child Psychologist/ Casualty Medical Officer/Record Medical Officer have been referred to the J&K Public Service Commission for selection of suitable candidates,” he informed the House.
While informing the House about the performance of the District Hospital Rajouri, the Minister said that 2.36 lakh patients visited OPD block during the current financial year while 28610 IPD patients were also treated in the hospital. He said 2308 major surgeries and 21230 minor surgeries were also conducted during this period. The Minister further stated that 687 blood transfusions were also made while 4393 deliveries were also recorded in the hospital during this fiscal.
The Health Minister further stated that there are 10 vacancies of doctors in various PHCs in the district including at Thanamandi, Manjakote, Lah, Ghambir Mouglan, Bagla Nadyala and NTPHC Pullian. He said 6 doctors have been provided under NHM to   fill these vacancies while steps are being taken to fill all the vacant posts in the department.

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