Under the National Health Mission (NHM), the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare provides financial and technical support to States and UTs to strengthen their healthcare systems based on the requirements posed by them in their Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs) within their overall resource envelope, Government informed parliament recently.
Further, under NHM various types of incentives and honorarium are provided for encouraging specialist doctors to practice in rural and remote areas of the country and among others it includes hard area allowance to specialist doctors to serve in rural and remote areas and for their residential quarters so that they find it attractive to serve in public health facilities in such areas.
Also honorarium to Gynecologists, Emergency Obstetric Care (EmoC) trained, Pediatricians & Anesthetist/ Life Saving Anaesthesia Skills (LSAS) trained doctors is also provided to increase availability of specialists for conducting Cesarean Sections in rural and remote area.
States are also allowed to offer negotiable salary to attract specialists including flexibility in strategies such as “You Quote We Pay”. Non-Monetary incentives such as preferential admission in post graduate courses for staff serving in difficult areas and improving accommodation arrangement in rural areas have also been introduced under NHM. Multi-skilling of doctors is supported under NHM to overcome the shortage of specialists. Skill upgradation of existing Human Resource is another major strategy under NHM for improvement in health outcomes. Guidance has also been provided to States for setting up of Public Health Management Cadre (PHMC) which envisages a separate cadre for specialists with improved career progression.
Over the years, there has been an increase in the total number of specialists (including Obstetricians-Gynaecologists) in secondary care services which include CHC, Sub-divisional hospitals as well as the District Hospitals.
Due to the government’s consistent efforts, the Lieutenant Governor earlier this year said, today J&K has one of the best public health care facilities in the country. The administration is working with sensitivity to ensure the common man has access to quality healthcare and the government’s performance on 10 health parameters are better than national average, which is a testimony to commitment of quality of life and transformation in the health sector of J&K, the Lieutenant Governor had said.
Accessible, affordable and quality healthcare for every citizen should remain a priority and the statement by the Lieutenant governor is reassuring in this context.
