The Health Department will establish 500 new Sub-Health Centres (SHC) across the State and new doctors will be appointed on high salaries varying from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh for serving in remote places in order to step up health care services in the rural and tribal areas of the State.
Principal Secretary (Health) Praveer Krishna informed that National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) Additional Director Anuradha Gupta gave accent to the proposal of the State Government in this regards in a workshop on maternal and child health organised in the State capital on Tuesday.
Krishnainformed that apart from establishing new 500 SHCs, 500 existing SHCs will be upgraded into model delivery points to reduce maternal and child mortality rate in the rural areas.
He said that in order to attract doctors for serving in the rural areas, they will be offered a salary ranging from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh depending upon the accessibility of the area. The highest amount will be for those doctors who are ready to provide services in the most inaccessible parts.
The doctors will be appointed on contract basis and they will be required to reside near the Primary Health Centre (PHC) where they are posted. Krishna also informed that the health department has identified 430 such PHCs in the State where there are no doctors from 2 to 10 years. The new doctors appointed on contractual basis will be required to serve in such PHCs.
He said that this arrangement will help in meeting the deficit of trained medical personnel in remote areas which directly affects maternal and child health. A budgetary allocation of Rs 200 crore will be provided by NRHM for this purpose.
Krishnaalso informed that two vehicles will be provided in every block for monitoring of rural health services. The block-level medical officer and sector officers will send periodic reports to the department regarding improvement in medical services, he told. Notably, at the workshop Umaria district Collector Surendra Upadhyay told that there is only one gynecologist in the whole district who handles normal as well as caesarian deliveries.
He informed that there are no provisions of caesarian deliveries at the PHCs or the CHSs due to lack of gynecologists. He also requested the PS that drivers of Janani Express should be given training on line of 108 ambulance service for proper driving as people are afraid of using its services due to rash driving.