SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has expressed concerns over glaring deficiencies in the healthcare sector and absence of a medical college in the state.
Addressing a gathering at the 3rd North East Healthcare Leadership Summit held at Yojana Bhavan on Monday, Sangma said manpower and infrastructure are “big issues as most of the newly created districts are yet to have full-fledged civil hospitals”.
On the state not having a medical college, Sangma said, “I think we should be able to start the process within this calendar year itself. We hope that both medical colleges, in Shillong and Tura, get completed within the given time.”
The chief minister called for monitoring the activities of ASHAs and motivating these health workers.
After a review of the Poshan Abhiyaan with district officials, he said he was surprised to learn that 6,000 ASHA workers cannot reach villages and children. “Maybe something is going wrong and maybe we are not able to motivate them enough,” he added.
The state government has increased this year’s budget amount for the healthcare sector by almost 30 per cent but “a lot more needs to be done”, he maintained. “We are focusing on creating maximum impact with minimum investment,” Sangma added.
Around four PHCs and CHCs and 100-bed hospitals were proposed in this year’s budget.
The summit was organised by the Public Health Foundation of India in partnership with the Government of Meghalaya with the support from the DoNER Ministry.
Attitude of doctors
and nurses
Sangma, however, stayed away from reprimanding doctors and nurses for misbehaving with patients but said they should be trained to be cordial.
“Small things we can do can make a difference. I’ve spoken to some friends who are working in soft skills for different sectors. I’ve asked them to take up a pilot project of one or two civil hospitals, PHCs and CHCs and trained doctors and nurses to be patient friendly,” he added.
The chief minister feels the stress should be on maximising the state’s resources. “We have 6,509 ASHA workers in the state, 1,271 nurses, 687 doctors, close to 444 sub-centres, 109 PHCs, there is a lot of infrastructure at the bottom,” he said.
With complaints of doctors and nurses being rude to patients and even their attendants, Sangma pointed out that the sector is about health “care” and “it is not only the medicine that you give but the way people are treated by doctors and if you are nice to them, they will feel 10-15 per cent better”.
Meanwhile, PD Rai, MP, Secretary, North East MPs Forum, said the duty of state governments is to formulate policies in accordance with central guidelines, which form part of the cooperative federalism.
