SHILLONG, Feb 6: Health Minister, James PK Sangma said the state government is working towards addressing the issue of shortage of doctors in government-run health care centres.
“This is a big challenge for us. We are trying to find out how we can address this issue. The government is also looking to address other major challenges through short-term, mid-term and long-term interventions,” Sangma told reporters on Sunday.
He said the government’s effort has always been to ensure that there are sufficient doctors.
“We want to improve on the ratio,” the Health Minister said, adding, “We are also trying to ensure quick response time and provide quality health care to the citizens,” Sangma said.
He said he does not have the exact figures on the shortfall of doctors.
A senior Health department official had earlier stated that very few turned up when the state government gave an advertisement for filling up the vacant posts of doctors.
“There is a shortage of more than 100 doctors as per the present vacant posts. The Health department could not even get 50 doctors to appoint on a contractual basis for tackling the COVID-19 situation,” the official had stated.
According to him, over 800 doctors are posted in various government hospitals, Community Health Centres and Public Health Centres across the state, actively fighting the pandemic.
The shortage is mainly due to the reluctance of many doctors to work in state government-run hospitals. Many of them paid the bond amount for not working in government hospitals after completing medical education. “Over Rs 3 crore was collected as bond amount penalty from such doctors in two years,” the official had said. The government had increased the bond amount to Rs 30 lakh but still, many doctors are not willing to serve in government hospitals.
