‘J&K ahead in health infra as per IPHS’
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 11: The Secretary of the Health & Medical Education (H&ME) Department today said that the Government is “working hard” to establish a mechanism to ensure the availability of technical manpower at all levels across hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking to reporters after attending the inaugural session of the 52nd Annual National Conference of the Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine at SKICC, hosted by the GMC Srinagar, Secretary Syed Abid Rasheed emphasized the need for a system that consolidates public health institutions in terms of human resources, which he described as crucial.
“To ensure the appropriate utilization of human resources-especially in a department where technical manpower is required at every level-we are working hard to develop a mechanism that guarantees adequate staffing in all health institutions,” he said.
“This will help prevent any crisis and ensure that even the remotest areas receive quality and affordable healthcare.”
With regard to the availability of the health institutions, the Secretary stated that J&K is far better than the rest of the country as per the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) norms, even though, he said, there are challenges in terms of reach and geography.
“As per these norms, we are far better than the rest of the country in terms of the availability of health institutions. In fact, we are ahead of all major states and Union Territories in this regard,” he said.
IPHS norms are a set of guidelines formulated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, to ensure quality healthcare delivery in public health facilities across the country.
The Secretary informed that starting from the current financial year, the Government will launch telemedicine services, which will operate under the hub-and-spoke model.
“Under this model, the Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) will serve as the hubs, while Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), and other facilities will function as the spokes,” he said.
“Specialists at the hubs will provide consultations to patients at the primary and secondary healthcare levels. This will be a major intervention and is expected to significantly address existing healthcare challenges.”
On the availability of trained manpower, the Secretary highlighted its critical importance in healthcare.
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