Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 24: Minister for Health Sham Lal Sharma today said that State was facing shortage of nearly 41 % doctors besides other staff and despite all constraints, it bagged two rewards worth Rs 20 crore from Planning Commission of India.
Replying to discussion on the working of Health Medical Education department Mr Sharma said there was dearth of doctors in the State and he was not in habit of giving misleading information. At present, as per inputs available, there was nearly 41% shortage of doctors. There was acute shortage of radiologists. Equipment is available in some hospitals but trained doctors concerned are not available. The minister said there were nearly 686 ambulances available in Kashmir and 200 more are being purchased by State this year. All the remaining Health Centers would get these vehicles meant for patients.
He said the contribution of the private sector in the Health services was hardly 2 % in the State while Government was mainly according health care facilities in the State. There are many constraints of shortage of staff, equipment etc but despite this all, the State got reward worth Rs 20 crore from the Planning Commission of India. He said Poonch hospital building has been upgraded and 12 slice CT scan is being installed there shortly. The funds to the tune of Rs 70 lakh stand released for Trauma hospital at Sunderbani and more fund will be made available as nearly Rs 30 crore is required for the entire project.
Referring to the suggestion of members, the minister said a policy was in place to make newly appointed doctors, especially those from RBA /ALC categories, to serve in rural areas but it is needed to be implemented firmly. He said due to political interference some doctors manage postings which affect the functioning in rural health centres. He sought cooperation of members and ministers in this regard.
Minister incharge Medical Education Taj Mohi-ud-Din said an average of 2500 patients are reporting in the OPDs at GMC Hospitals Jammu, Srinagar, SMGS etc. He said there has been sharp increase in the registration at OPDs and evening clinics have been opened to provide health care consultations by specialists to the patients who otherwise can not avail consultations during the day time due to varied reasons. The purpose was to check private practice of the doctors. He claimed the private practice of the HODs has already been banned.
Mr Taj said that the system of computerization of medical record of patients is being introduced in the hospitals. Despite limited resources latest equipment and machines have been installed in the Health Institutions as per the demand to cater to the needs of patients. The Health care in the Maternity and Child Care Hospitals has also been improved. He disclosed that 915 doctors were in place against the sanctioned strength of 1995 doctors in Medical Education doctors. Same is the position of the para-medical staff. Where only 3000 posts are in position against the sanctioned strength of 5000. The process of appointing 1000 nurses has been initiated.
The minister further said that there were nearly 14 super specialists/ consultants in the Health department and request has been made to the Health department to send them to SSH Jammu and Srinagar. He said efforts were on to bring doctors from outside the State and strengthen SSH Jammu as well as Srinagar. Some top doctors were also approached and there was need to amend rules and give hike in their salaries/ pay scales. The top consultants from J&K also prefer to serve in private hospitals as they offer lucrative package. Some steps are needed to be taken to attract top doctors, he added.
Dr B A Veeri, Jahangir Mir, Khalid Najeeb Suhrawardy, Naeem Akhtar, Sham Lal Bhagat, Rafiq Shah, Naresh Gupta, Jugal Kishore, Ravinder Sharma, Nurboo Gialchan and Abdul Majid Bhat participated in discussion.
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