Minister for Health and Medical Education, Bali Bhagat today said that upgrading and augmenting healthcare infrastructure across the State, especially in the rural and far-flung areas is the topmost priority of the Government headed by Chief Minister, Ms Mehbooba Mufti. For this the Government has taken several initiatives during the past over six months, he said.The Minister was reviewing the performance of health sector in district Rajouri at a meeting held here.Legislators, Choudhary Qamar Hussain, Mr. Ravinder Raina, Mr. Vibodh Gupta, Director Family Welfare, J&K, Dr Baldev Sharma, Mission Director, NHM, Dr Mohan Singh, Director Health Services, Jammu, Dr Gurjeet Singh, ADDC Rajouri, A S Chib, CMO Rajouri, Dr Muhammad Younis besides other sectoral officers of the district were present at the meeting.The Minister received the detailed feed-back of health scenario in the district and directed all the concerned to work with close synergy and missionary spirit to achieve the goal of providing best possible health care to the patients. As a reformative measure and for the convenience of the staff, the Government has given preference to the posting of local doctors in their respective home towns so that they can better perform and serve their areas, he said and added to fill the vacant posts of different categories, the Government has approached the recruiting agencies to make the selections of all these posts on fast-track basis.
The Minister also exhorted upon the Block Medical Officers to ensure regular visits to health institutions within their respective areas of jurisdiction to oversee the facilities at ground level to ensure best health care services. He also called for organizing awareness camps in rural and far flung areas for generating mass awareness regarding various Government sponsored schemes. He directed the concerned to ensure adequate availability of medicines in every healthcare institution in the district so that people do not face any inconvenience. He directed the BMOs to ensure prominent displaying of the list of concerned staff along with their phone numbers and availability of medicines and services at every health centre for the facility of patients.The legislators highlighted the problems of their respective constituencies and called for further augmenting the services in the health institutions. They also called for ensuring adequate supply of medicines diagnostic equipment/ambulances for the convenience of the patients in view of the frequent border firing in the district. They also prominently raised the issue of shortage of staff and called for early filling of all vacant posts.The Chief Medical Officer Rajouri gave detailed account of the overall health scenario in the district.