The Haryana Government has sought Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev’s assistance for developing an alternative medicine system in the State.
“Yoga would be encouraged among people so that they remain healthy. This will reduce the occurrence of diseases and strengthen alternative medicine system”, said Anil Vij, Health Minister, Haryana. He said Baba Ramdev would be contacted so that yoga could be spread among people through hospitals. Besides this, budget on health sector would be increased substantially, added Vij.
Baba Ramdev originally belongs to Alipur village of Mahendragarh district in Haryana. He studied Indian scriptures, Yoga and Sanskrit in various gurukuls of the State and used to offer free yoga training to villagers after becoming a sanyasi, while living in Kalva Gurukul in Jind district of Haryana. He moved to Haridwar in Uttarakhand later on.
Vij said that for the complete healthcare of all, government would make the AYUSH department more active. Under this, special steps would be taken to encourage alternate medical practices like homeopathy, Unani, Yoga and Ayurveda. He said Ayush wing would be established in all government hospitals of the state and those already existing ayush would be strengthened.
The Minister said drastic changes would be brought in the health department which has remained "utterly neglected" during the previous Congress regime. “We will bring drastic changes. The Health Department had remained utterly neglected during the previous regime. A mere two per cent of the total budget was spent on health sector. Also, no concrete steps were taken to tackle the shortage of doctors in medical institutions,” he said.
The State Minister, who is BJP MlA from Ambala Cantt, said he will be holding a meeting with doctors to seek suggestions from them for improving the health department.
To providing good and subsidised medical services to below poverty line (BPl) patients and others, Vij said, “We will soon have all the laboratories of our hospitals, from Community Health Centre upwards, well equipped so that people are not forced to shell out huge money on conducting medical tests from outside.”
He said that there was shortage of doctors, especially in the rural health centres. “These days many doctors are opting for the private sector. We will try to make the government jobs lucrative for them and give them the required facilities. For this, we want to form a policy, which will also encourage doctors to work in rural areas,” the minister said.
He claimed that nearly 80 doctors, some of them specialists, were for past many years not hesitating to do even “clerical jobs” just to be stationed at the department headquarters here. “While there is shortage of doctors in many areas of the State, these doctors have been staying put here for past so many years. I have passed written orders to post these doctors wherever their services are required,” Vij stated.
The Minister said that he has also sought report from all health centres about the sanctioned strength of doctors and actual number who are posted there. “This will help us arrive at an exact figure about the shortage and also tell us if doctors beyond the sanctioned strength have been posted at a particular place,” he said.