Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, while presiding over the review meeting of Health Department here today, said that work on construction of all the ten Maternal and Child Hospitals sanctioned for the State by the Government of India must be completed within a stipulated time period so that the State have best facilities to tackle the speculated third wave of the Covid-19. Jai Ram Thakur said that the State was fortunate that, despite being a small State, Himachal Pradesh has six medical colleges and one AIIMS in Government sector. He said that this was possible due to the special benevolence of the Union Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that the then Union Health Minister and now the National BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda has sanctioned ten Maternal and Child Hospitals for the State. He said that work on all these Hospital projects must be geared up so that they can be completed at the earliest.Chief Minister said that 100 bedded MCH wing was coming up at Zonal Hospital Mandi with a cost of Rs. 27 crore which would be completed within next two months. He said that 100 bedded Rs. 20 crore MCH wing at Regional Hospital Kullu and MCH wing at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College Tanda would be completed by December this year.
He also directed authorities to ensure time bound completion of MCH wings at Civil Hospital Nurpur, Regional Hospital Una, Regional Hospital Bilaspur, Regional Hospital Solan and Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar Government Medical College Nahan.He said that work on Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru Government Medical College Chamba should be expedited so that work on this Rs 319.53 crore project could be completed by 31st August, 2022. He said that work on Dr. Radhakrishanan Government Medical College, Hamirpur should be expedited for which an amount of Rs 355 crore have been sanctioned. He expressed concern over the delay over the construction of this Medical College. He said that issues such as forest clearances must be taken in hand soon so that Rs 260 crore Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar Government Medical College, Nahan is completed within stipulated time period.Secretary Health Amitabh Awasthi welcomed the Chief Minister and assured him that efforts would be made to ensure time bound completion of all the projects.Director Medical Education and Principal IGMC Shimla Dr Rajneesh Pathania made a detailed presentation on the progress in civil works of various Medical Colleges in the State.Health Minister Dr. Rajiv Saizal, Mission Director NHM Dr Nipun Jindal, and other officers attended the meeting at Shimla whereas MD HPSEB Ltd. R.K. Sharma, Engineer-in-Chief PWD Sanjay Sharma, ENC Jal Shakti Navin Puri, Principals of all the Medical Colleges, CMOs joined the meeting virtually.