The Cabinet on Wednesday has taken the decision to create 570 new posts for the Health department so that the newly readied family health centres (FHCs) can be made functional.
The new posts being created are that of assistant surgeons (35), nursing officer grade II (150), pharmacist grade II (250) and lab technician grade II (135).
Once these appointment processes are completed, other critical posts would be created in the next phase. The Director of Health Services has been asked to examine this and issue the necessary directives.
The Health department can decide the critical posts required in each district, except that of the assistant surgeons.
A statement by the Health Minister Veena George said that even in the midst of an acute financial crisis, the government had chosen to go ahead with the post creation to underline the importance of strengthening the health sector.
As part of improving comprehensive primary care service delivery down to the grassroots, the government has now readied 5,415 popular health centres or Health and Wellness centres.
Earlier, as part of the Aardram Mission, primary health centres had been converted as family health centres, with clear guidelines on its functioning. Every FHC will have three medical officers, four staff nurses, two pharmacists and a lab technician.
The new posts created now are apart from the posts that were created for the FHCs earlier in phases as part of the Aardram Mission.
The Health department is engaged in the process of converting its 885 primary health centres as FHCs in phases by resolving problems of human resources shortage and strengthening infrastructure
The FHCs will have outpatient services from 9 a.m. till 6 p.m.
As part of making government hospitals more patient-friendly, all the FHCs have been equipped with waiting rooms, OP registration counters, ramps to aid physically challenged persons, clinical examination rooms, injection rooms, waiting areas, wheelchairs and the like.
Ms. George said that huge changes are expected as far as service delivery is concerned once the FHCs become fully functional.
A total of 133 FHCs in the State have also secured the National Quality Accreditation Standards (NQAS) certification.
Published – January 15, 2025 08:48 pm IST
