DEHRADUN: As Pushkar Singh Dhami takes over as the new Uttarakhand chief minister, senior doctors in the state have said that he must give the health portfolio to a separate minister, unlike his two predecessors. They say that a dedicated health minister will be able to deal with the pandemic more effectively.
The last two CMs of the incumbent BJP government — Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat — held the health portfolio with themselves.
“In the past four years, including the pandemic phase, we haven’t seen the CMs conducting a one-to-one departmental meeting with the director general (health) and the 13 chief medical officers in an offline mode. The CM has a lot on his plate and thus, it is difficult for him to monitor every programme being run as per the illnesses dominating the state,” said a senior doctor of the health department.
The doctors of Provincial Medical Health Services (PMHS) also echoed a similar sentiment. “Half of the posts of specialist doctors, staff nurses, lab technicians and grade IV employees are lying vacant in the state. A full-time health minister will understand that along with hiring more doctors, the state needs to recruit more staff nurses, lab technicians and grade IV employees as well,” said a senior doctor working in the health department.
Meanwhile, Dr DD Choudhury, a senior doctor and member of the prestigious Central Working Committee (CWC) of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), India, told TOI, “Uttarakhand certainly needs a full-time dedicated health minister to bring its health services on track. A glimpse of government health facilities in Mussoorie, Vikasnagar, Sahaspur is sufficient to highlight the state of remote health facilities in the state. The remote areas continue to be appalling in terms of health infrastructure.”
