In an effort to provide medical facilities in the mountainous and inaccessible parts of the State the Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi convened a meeting with the representatives of top private hospitals here on Friday. In the interaction the health minster asked the private hospitals to conduct health camps in those parts of the state which are deprived of the health facilities.
He said that the State Government would provide the boarding, lodging and travel facilities for these camps. Negi said that the state government would provide the services of helicopter to transport the doctors of these hospitals in the inaccessible areas; this helicopter can be used to airlift very critical patients if the need arises.
He called for a synergy between the private hospitals and the State Government so that the people of mountainous part of the state get the benefit of modern health facilities. The representatives of the private hospitals expressed their willingness to conduct these camps. The health minister asked the private hospitals to submit their proposals till September 15. The meeting was attended by Joint Secretary Medical Health Atar Singh, Director General (DG) Medical Health Dr GS Joshi, Director Medical education Dr RP Bhatt, Director heath services Dr lP Gusain and other senior officers of health department. The hospitals like Medanta Gurgaon, Fortis, Apollo hospital, Metro hospital, Max hospital, HIHT Jolly Grant and Bharat Heart institute had sent their representatives in the meeting.
The medical facilities in the state are severely hampered by large number of vacant posts of doctors; the departmental data shows that 1482 posts of medical officers are vacant in the State. The problem is more severe in mountainous parts as over 80 per cent of posts of doctors are lying vacant there.