Presiding over a meeting of senior Government functionaries of Health and Medical Education Department, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti took by surprise the Health Minister and MoS by expressing her dismay over the adverse reports she has received about the functionality of two Super Speciality Hospitals in the State besides the shocking reports of shortage of drugs and other equipments in the Government Medical Colleges and Hospitals.
Development and expansion of health services is a major agenda of this Government. Five new Medical Colleges are under consideration of the Government. The Chief Minister wants that medical centres in each constituency in the State are upgraded and provided with specialized facilities so that patients are not forced to head towards the premier institutions in the capital cities. The purpose is to reduce crowding in premier institutes. The Chief Minister touched upon almost all major aspects of health services like improving standard of medical services in Super Speciality Hospitals, availability of teaching faculty, norms of manpower, medical facilities in district hospitals, paramedical staff, Unani and Ayurvedic medicine etc. Concerned about non-satisfactory functioning of two Super Speciality Hospitals she issued instructions that the department should ensure that the respective heads purchase the requisite medicines from the Medical Supplies Corporation well in time and in no case should the delays or shortages be countenanced.
It has emerged from the meeting that some significant projects are being taken up by the Health Department. The functionaries told the Chief Minister that most of the projects undertaken were progressing along dotted lines and these would be brought to completion soon. Observers are taking such statements by the functionaries with many reservations.
The fact of the matter is that the Health and Medical Education Department has to do a great deal if it wants to come up to the expectations of the people or the Chief Minister. It is not enough to say that such and such project is nearing completion or is progressing along the dotted lines.
In final analysis we find that development and expansion of health services is a comprehensive matter and all components must be carried forward so that the cumulative result is achieved. Proper functioning of hospitals is a big question and the Chief Minister has minced no words when she says that she is not happy with the functioning aspect of the hospitals. Maybe she is inclined to constitute a supervisory committee to periodically inspect the hospitals in terms of functioning so that bottlenecks appearing from time to time in any of the numerous hospitals are addressed without loss of time.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel