Jammu, November 07 (Scoop News)- Minister for Health & Family Welfare Sham Lal Sharma has reiterated the commitment of the coalition Government headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to upgrade the medicare facilities across the State, particularly in the rural and far-flung areas. He said Government has already declared that health and education are the core sectors which will continue to receive the focused attention.
The Minister was interacting with the people after inspecting the week long free Surgical-cum-Medical Camp at Sub-District Hospital, Jourian today.
He said the Government has created massive health infrastructure across the State and things have tremendously improved on ground. It has been ensured that people get improved medicare facilities at their doorsteps instead of visiting to cities to avail specialized treatments. At Primary Health Centre level, all vital diagnostic facilities and services of specialized doctors have been made available round the clock despite paucity of staff. The Government has made earnest effort to create adequate posts of doctors, para-medical staff to cater the rural services.
Seeking people’s support to keep hospitals neat and clean, Sharma said that Government’s duty is to create facilities and people have to protect these assets. He said a sense of responsibility has to be created amongst the people and they must understand that government property is their own asset and they have to protect it for their own benefits. The Panchayat institutions in the rural areas will keep a vigil on the government assets and make sure that the assets are well protected and made their judicious use, Sham asserted.
Appreciating the efforts of the organizers for arranging the medical camp in this border town, the Minister said that the effort will benefit the local people, hoping that patients suffering from the serious ailments will be the beneficiaries of the event. He stressed for frequently organizing such camps in the remote areas to reach out the poor people who cannot afford to move out to get treatments. He said Government will provide them all logistic support to supplement efforts in providing healthcare to the people.
The week long medical camp has been organized by Onkar Singh Memorial Trust, Jourian, an NGO in collaboration with the Directorate of Health Services. The camp begun on November 6 and will continue till November 12. Consultants from prominent institutions like, Ram Manohar Lohia, AIIMS and leading specialists will treat the patients during the camp. All types of major/minor surgeries will be performed in the camp. All kinds of pathological tests, x-rays, ultrasound facilities are available in the camp free of cost.
According to the Block Medical Officer, Akhnoor, Dr. Narinder Singh, more than 100 major/minor surgeries will be performed and over 2000 patients will be examined during the camp. He informed that patients of over one dozen villages of the adjoining localities including, Akhnoor, Jourian and Khour have registered for different ailments. He informed that arrangements for boarding and lodging have also been made by the department for the indoor patients and their attendants during the camp.
Director Health Services, Jammu Dr. Madhu Khullar, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Baldev Sharma also accompanied the Minister.