Haryana Government will introduce drastic changes in its health department which has remained "utterly neglected" during the previous Congress regime, state Health Minister Anil Vij said today.
"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," Vij told PTI here.
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 pointed out.
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.
