Bihar govt to appoint more medical officers, Ayush doctors soon

KATIHAR: Deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad laid the foundation stones for construction of a 100-bed maternal and child health (MCH) unit and a 100-bed new building on the sadar hospital campus here on Sunday.

Inaugurating health infrastructure projects worth Rs 49 crore in Katihar and Purnia districts, the deputy CM said that chief minister Nitish Kumar’s roadmap to develop the health sector of Bihar has started taking shape.

He also paid tributes to the health workers who lost their lives fighting the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic.

“The MCH building will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 20 core and the structure will have 7 out-patient department (OPDs), four emergency wards, 3 operation theatres and several other hi-tech facilities. The building will be constructed as per the National Building Code norms and the structure will be equipped with fire alarms and will be quake resistant.” health minister Mangal Pandey said, who was also present on the occasion.

To promote institutional delivery and providing care to children suffering from a hole in the heart which is a congenital defect and is referred to as a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) or an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), mother and child hospitals are being set up at different sadar hospitals of the state and Katihar unit is one of them, Prasad added.

The health minister, while recalling his association with the hospital said, “Process to convert nine sadar hospitals into model hospital is underway, while a detailed project report (DPR) is being prepared for 12 other sadar hospitals. Renovated APHCs and MCHs are functional at several places.”

“More medical officers and specialists will be appointed in different hospitals, while vacant positions for ANMs, GNMs and Ayush doctors will be filled soon. Besides, we have hiked the salary of Ayush doctors,” said Pandey.

Besides these, the renovated ANM training centre-cum-hostel building, the project cost of which was Rs 2.26 crore, was inaugurated on Sunday. A foundation stone was also laid for Haflaganj additional primary health centre (APHC) in Katihar district. The newly-constructed APHCs at Pokharia and Ranipatra were also opened for public.

RTPCR lab facility and a centre for conducting DNB (Diplomate of National Board) course for medical students, were also opened on the premises of Purnia sadar hospital.

Although, both BJP and JD(U) members of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government were present on the occasion, but the CM’s photographs were missing from posters, banners and brochures prepared for the event.