By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 22: Health minister AL Hek on Monday refuted the reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) while maintaining that the state government, especially his department, is working very hard in all aspects. “I don’t believe in the CAG report,” Hek said on Monday.
The CAG, in its report, had said the state government has failed in providing enough doctors in government hospitals and shortage of health centres.
Reacting to the observation made by the CAG that the government has failed to implement bonds with MBBS doctors under state quota, the health minister said that the department has not failed to maintain the agreement.
“We had sent letters after letters to them and many of them have already paid the penalty and, so far, we have collected over Rs 1 crore from those who are not willing to work with the state government,” he said.
Downplaying the reports claiming the dearth of doctors in Meghalaya, Hek said that it is a national scenario and the problem exists not only in Meghalaya.
He added that there are some states where there is more shortage of doctors.
The health minister pointed out that the department is not sitting idle and several health centres are being upgraded and many MCH hospitals are under construction.
“The Health department is working day
(Contd on P-4)