Jaipur: State govt has filled around 25,000 vacant positions in the medical department in the first year of its term, said health minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar in Assembly Thursday, adding that 26,501 positions are currently being filled and expected to be completed this year.
Responding to a debate on grant demands for the health department, Khimsar said the previous govt had managed to fill only 27,490 positions in the medical department in its five years. He said staff recruitment is now conducted transparently through a portal and that longstanding vacancies in red zones, tribal areas and border districts have been successfully filled.
Speaking on first referral units (FRUs), Khimsar said that of 160 units set up by the previous govt, only 87 are functional. The present govt has activated 129 units by recruiting paediatricians, anaesthesiologists and gynaecologists and that trauma centres are also being operationalised by recruiting the necessary staff, he said.
Khimsar compared the previous govt’s Chiranjeevi scheme, which offered treatment up to Rs 25 lakh but only benefited two individuals with maximum Rs 13 lakh treatment, to Mukhyamantri Ayushman Arogya (MAA) scheme of the present govt. “MAA scheme offers 2,370 packages compared to Chiranjeevi’s 1,806, contributing 70per cent of major hospitals’ income,” he said, adding that interstate portability of MAA scheme would start in two months.
State govt has set up 11,655 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs in villages and hamlets, providing 12 medical services at each, said Khimsar, noting that the previous govt opened only 15 Janata Clinics in urban areas through donations and CSR. These were later renamed Urban Ayushman Arogya Mandirs by the Union govt, with 357 currently operating statewide and receiving monthly budgetary allocation of up to Rs 7 lakh each.
Speaking of Ayushman Tower project on SMS Hospital complex initiated by the previous govt, Khimsar said the current govt is completing this facility that will have 1,243 beds, 20 OTs, 100 OPD counters, four cath labs, a helipad, and a medical martyr memorial. Civil work on the cardiac tower is complete, he said.
