Himachal Pradesh Health Announcements

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh announced the setting up of a separate cell for nurses in the Directorate of Health Service (DHS).

Presiding over the closing ceremony of International Nurses Day at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC), he also announced an increase in diet allowance from Rs 6 to Rs 25, besides regularizing the services of the nurses appointed on a contract basis by Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS) who had completed five years of contractual service.

The Chief Minister said steps were afoot to fill all the vacant posts in far-flung and rural areas of the state, and more health institutions were either being upgraded or opened in such areas.

He mentioned that the new projects in the pipeline to strengthen the hospital include:

• Construction of a new multi-storeyed OPD block near Auckland tunnel
• A super speciality block
• New block of Kamla Nehru Hospital

"Institutions are not set up overnight, they are like a living organism, with certain set of targets and aims and it takes time to develop as perfect institutions," he said, adding that a separate state hospital for mother and child was coming up in the campus of Kamla Nehru hospital, which would be a part of IGMC.

He said the ESIC College at Ner Chowk in Mandi district would also be taken over by the government, for which talks are ongoing, and exhorted the doctors and paramedical staff to work with dedication and develop human spirit in their working.

Health Minister's Address

Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said nurses had greater responsibility than doctors as they play a crucial role in the care of patients.

He stated that 4,025 posts of paramedical staff had been sanctioned, and 377 posts of nurses had been sent to the Service Selection Board, Hamirpur, to be filled to meet the shortage of nurses in IGMC and Medical College in Nahan.

He exhorted nurses to play a pivotal role in improving the sex ratio and said the sex ratio in Lahaul Spiti district of the state was the highest in the country as per the 2011 census, standing at 1000/1033 (male/female).