Moving firmly towards strengthening the health infrastructure, Minister for Health & Medical Education, Bali Bhagat today laid foundation stone of additional accommodation, Labour Room at Sub-District Hospital, Tangmarg to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 2.28 crore.The project is proposed to be completed in two phases, which comprises three floors, including basement, ground and first floor over 11,307 sq ft area. An amount of Rs. 1.40 crore stands released in favour of the J&K Police Housing Corporation, which is the executing agency for the project. September 2018 is the deadline for completion of the entire project.Addressing a largely attended public meeting after foundation laying ceremony in the premises of SDH, Tangmarg, the Minister said that health is the topmost priority sector and Government is committed to further strengthen it in every nook and corner of the State. He said after the formation of the present Government, the health sector received tremendous boost and on-going projects were speeded up with the coordinated efforts.
The Minister said that the work load in all the district hospitals has increased manifold, but manpower component remained the same. He said now the Government has worked out the workload and requirement of manpower, including doctors and para-medics and process of creation of more posts has been initiated. The district hospitals will be fully equipped with to handle the rush of all kinds of patients to curtail the flow in tertiary hospitals. He said the necessary instructions have been issued to the concerned hospitals/doctors to maintain utmost restriction on making unnecessary referral to the tertiary hospitals, rather all routine cases will be treated locally. Only vulnerable/trauma cases will be referred to Government Medical College hospitals, said the Minister.During the interaction with doctors and para-medics, the Minister called upon them to work with extra zeal and dedication and serve the patients as per medical ethics, adding that patients have high expectations from them and they must perform accordingly. He assured to improve working conditions in the hospitals for the staff.Responding to the demand of the local MLA, the Minister announced one special Ambulance for the hospital to cater to the needs in hilly areas (snow bound areas). He also assured to post one Child Specialist and one Gynecologist new next few days in the SDH. He directed the Director Health Services to do the needful.
MLA Tangmarg, Mohammad Abbas Wani in his address apprised the Minister about the status of health scenario in the area and called for further augmentation of services and filling up all vacant posts of doctors and para-medics. He maintained that Tangmarg is located in the close vicinity of world renowned tourist resort Gulmarg which is widely visited by domestic as well as foreign tourists and need focused attention of the Government to augment medicare services to handle the unprecedented rush of patients, especially in Tangmarg and Kunzar hospitals.The Minister and MLA also dedicated eight ambulances to the CMO, Baramulla to be utilized in Tangmarg constituency. The ambulances have been provided by the MLA, Tangmarg, Mohammad Abbas Wani from his Constituency Development Funds.Director Health Services, Dr. Saleem-ur-Rehmand, CMO, Baramulla, Dr. B.A. Chalkoo, SDM,Gulmarg, Aziz Ahmad Rather, engineers of Police Housing Corporation, local leaders of PDP and BJP, besides large number of people from different parts of Tangmarg constituency were present on the occasion.