Minister Saqina Itu said on Wednesday that lack of doctors in remote areas is a legacy, not recent failure, which can be decided overnight.
Talking with reporters, Sakina Itu, the news agency -Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that there is a shortage of doctors that have inherited. “You cannot expect to decide things in a year when there was no doctor, a medical staff and any appropriate infrastructure for six years. It takes time to solve these problems,” he said.
He said that under the leadership of Omar Abdullah, the current administration has taken steps to address the crisis, especially by strengthening human resources in the health sector. “We issued 309 appointment orders to degree-holders to serve in remote and underscorce regions. Recently, another 111 appointments were made to further bridge the difference in healthcare delivery.”
On expert recruitment, the minister highlighted that the advisory-level appointments through the Service Selection Board (SSB) have also made progress and efforts are underway to deploy them effectively.
He admitted that despite the upgradation in the infrastructure, the new post creations and equipment, medical assistants and assistant employees, have lagged behind in the necessary facilities. “The buildings were constructed quickly, but they lack basic medical equipment and manpower. We now need to strengthen these efforts.”
He appealed to all stakeholders to work together for systemic reforms. “We need support from all – media, public and all departments to strengthen healthcare distribution. The administration is committed to bringing permanent changes,” he said- (KNO)
