Minister for Health & Medical Education, Bali Bhagat today sought the support of legislators for improving the health sector in the State. “Health being concern of everyone, we must make collective efforts to streamline its working so that the benefits of the facilities can be ensured for the common man. Only Minister’s efforts are not sufficient in improving the system, but entire House should support the efforts of fine-tuning the mechanism of healthcare system on ground” said the Minister.
Winding up the discussion on Demand of Grants for the Departments under his charge, the Minister appreciated the concerns of the Members for upgrading Health facilities in their respective areas. He said the Government will do justice with every area and ensure equitable distribution of resources and manpower as per the actual requirements of the area.
The department will devise a well-knit mechanism to make available the requisite staff, medicines, diagnostic equipments and other infrastructural facilities in the health institutions, with special focus in rural and far-flung areas to provide improved medicare facilities to the patients at their doorsteps. The Government has already identified the gaps to improve the facilities and Government of India will be approached for providing necessary funds for plugging those, said the Minister.Revealing a slew of measures initiated by the Government during its short stint of two months to rejuvenate the health sector, Mr. Bali Bhagat said that implementation of Free Drug Policy from 1st June in all the health institutions (except tertiary hospitals) is the landmark initiative as a large chunk of population of the state will benefitting from this programme. Most of the essential drugs will be available to the patients free of cost in the health institutions and doctors have been instructed to prescribe all the available drugs to the patients and the prescriptions will also be put to audit regularly to strictly enforce the policy. The details of the drugs and other facilities available in the hospitals will be prominently displayed for the information of the common man, said the Minister.
To prevent the pilferage of medicines from Government health institutions, the Government has devised a foolproof mechanism and Government supply will be of a specific colour coding strips/packing of Cyan Blue colour which will differentiate between Government and outside medicines. This mechanism will ensure zero pilferage of Government medicines, however, the Government will deal sternly with any act of pilferage of Government drugs and other material. Similarly, to ensure daily replacement of bed sheets in the hospitals, the Government has decided to procure multi-color bed sheets selecting the colours for different days, the Minister asserted.Immediately after taking the charge of the department, the Minister said that he personally undertook an extensive visit of Government Medical Colleges, Srinagar, Kashmir and some other prominent health institutions in the State to assess the scenario of sanitation and other facilities. After that a fortnight long State-wide cleanliness drive was launched in all the health institutions and all the heads of the institutions were made responsive to keep the environment patient friendly. To ensure the proper cleanliness of wards, toilets and washrooms, the authorities of GMCs and other main hospitals have been directed to hire the services of Sulab, which is a pioneering and credible agency in the field of sanitation across the country.
Besides, instructions for creation of several facilities for the patients and attendants in the hospitals like construction of Cabins at the earmarked slots for use by attendants while their stay in the hospitals, facility of clean drinking water, fans, seating arrangements, setting up of Inquiry Counters with PAS facility to facilitate the patients and attendants were also issued immediately. The facility of food for the indoor patients which was discontinued for some time was also restored in all the hospitals, the Minister maintained.Expressing happiness for getting two AIIMS for the State, the Minister said that Government of India has formally conveyed the sanction for establishment of these institutions one each at Srinagar and Jammu with a provision of Rs. 2000 crore each for taking up these projects. Similarly, he also expressed gratitude to the Government of India for sanctioning five Medical Colleges with a funding provision of Rs. 189 crore each and the foundation stone of three out of five colleges was recently laid by the Chief Minister and Union Health Minister. With the establishment of these premier institutions, the health scenario of the state will be changed altogether and patients not only from the State, but from other States will also avail benefits. The process for acquisition of land and other formalities for establishment of these institutions have already been completed and foundation of AIIMS will be shortly laid, he added.In view of the alarming rate of Cancer incidence in the State he said, the Government will set up two State Cancer Institutes, one each at Jammu and Srinagar on fast-track basis.
Besides, three Teritiary Cancer Care Institutes have also been sanctioned for Kishtwar, Udhampur and Kupwara to help the Cancer patients, said the Minister.To augment the ambulatory services in the State, the Minister said that Government of India has provided an amount of Rs. 13.47 crore for procurement of 130 Basic Life Support Ambulances and the department is in the process of procurement of these ambulances through the J&K Medical Supplies Corporation Limited. Further, the rate contract for procurement of 20 Critical Care Ambulances has also been finalized, and there will be procured soon for being deployed along the National Highway to meet the emergencies arising due to road accidents, and inter facility transfer at District hospitals/ Government Medical Colleges. Under another remarkable initiative the Department will soon launch 102 Advance Life Support/Basic Life Support Ambulance Services comprising 450 ambulances to ensure the ambulatory services at the doorsteps of the patients.The Drug and Food Control Organization which is responsible for checking the menace of spurious drugs and ensuring quality food items in the state will be further strengthened and made more result oriented.
To undertake the tests for various food items and drugs, the State Government will strengthen the existing Food Testing Laboratories at Srinagar and Jammu with a funding provision of Rs. 6.00 Crore. Moreover, Rs. 1.75 Crore has also been released for procurement of 05 mobile food testing vans, the Minister informed.In order to further strengthen the network of Blood Banks in the state, the Government will establish 30 more blood banks under National Health Mission Programme. A provision of Rs. 4.49 crore has been made during the current financial year for the purpose. The existing blood banks have also been proposed to upgrade with the funding of Rs. 7.24 crore, the Minister revealed.To overcome the shortage of the doctors and para-medics in the state, the Minister said that the Government will approach the recruitment agencies viz; PSC and J&K Service Selection Board for fast-track selections of the referred posts. Besides, the exercise of rationalization of staff will also be undertaken and necessary manpower will be provided to the institutions as per the actual work load, said the Minister.The Minister assured them that their inputs will be utilized as guidelines for bringing tangible changes in the healthcare facilities on ground.
He also urged the Members to monitor the facilities in the health institutions falling under their jurisdiction and share the deficiencies so that appropriate measures are taken.Later, the House passed the grants of Health & Medical Education Department, for the year 2016-17, which were moved by the Minister, amounting to Rs 3036.61 crore with voice vote.Earlier, the members who took part in the discussion on demand of grants include M. Y. Tarigami, Vikar Rasool, Mohd Ashraf Mir, Rajeev Jasrotia, Mubarak Gul, Hakeem Mohammad Yasin, Choudhary Mohammad Akram, Pawan Kumar, Mohd Akbar Lone, Javaid Hassan Beigh, Ms Anjum Fazli, Dr. Krishen Lal, Usman Majeed, Bashir Ahmad Dar, Altaf Ahmad Wani, Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, Syed Asgar Ali Karbalie, Ravinder Kumar Raina, Mohd Khalid Band, G. M. Saroori, Sheikh Ishfaq Jabar, Er. Abdul Rasheed and Mr. Nawang Rigzin Jora.The members, who moved the Cut Motions on the Grants, withdrew after the satisfactory reply from the Minister.