Govt to recruit 500 doctors soon: Health Minister

Haryana Health Minister Arti Singh Rao on Friday paid a surprise visit to Lok Nayak Jai Parkash District Civil Hospital in Kurukshetra and expressed dissatisfaction with the sanitation. She also expressed concern over the congestion in the hospital.

The Health Minister took stock of the sanitation conditions, toilets and various room and wards of the hospital, and reprimanded officials for the problems being faced by patients, especially in the children's ward. She also inquired about the x-ray facility during the late hours in emergency situations.

She interacted with the patients and inquired about the issues being faced in getting medicines and other facilities and also talked to the officials and doctors of the Health Department and asked them to provide all the facilities to the patients.

Civil Surgeon Dr Sukhbir Singh apprised the minister about the construction work of the new building of the hospital and the medicines and hospital arrangements.

Minister Arti Rao said, “There is an acute shortage of space in the hospital and amid the congestion, various health services are being run. There is a need to improve the situation. I have observed that there were doctors in the hospital but they don’t have adequate rooms. For instance, there are four gynaecologists but only one room to examine the patients, which is a big issue. A new building of the hospital is under construction and I will ask the PWD (B&R) to complete the pending work, especially the wards related to the babies so that they don’t get infected by disease. The PWD (B&R) should complete the work in a phased manner.”

She said “There are complaints of a couple of doctors referring the patients from here. The civil hospitals are not constructed to refer patients. All efforts are being made to ensure that no patient is referred from the Civil Hospital in near future. On a regular basis, reports will be sought from the hospitals regarding the surgeries being performed.”

Expressing dissatisfaction with conditions of toilets, she said “The toilets were in a poor condition and a women’s toilet was locked and key was not provided following which the door was broken. We will continue to inspect the hospital in the coming days.”

The minister said that there would be no shortage of doctors in government hospitals, for which the government would soon recruit 500 doctors. A proposal has been prepared for the recruitment of doctors and the recruitment process would start after getting permission from the government.

Due to flood-like situation in various districts of Haryana, there is a need to pay special attention to dengue and malaria cases. The government has made arrangements to prevent diseases like dengue, malaria, chikungunya, but residents, along with Health Department officials, need to be cautious, she said.