SHILLONG, May 4: The Health Department is likely to constitute a zonal committee of MLAs to review and decide how to build the health infrastructures across the state.
Talking to reporters after a review meeting with the senior officials of the department here on Thursday, Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said she feels the need to constitute some sort of a zonal panel of MLAs from different areas of the state.
She said the Assembly budget session focusing on building health infrastructures generated enthusiasm among the MLAs.
“Every constituency seeks an improved health infrastructure. But it is not only about creating infrastructure; the human resource and recurring expenditure have to be considered,” she said.
Lyngdoh said the committee of MLAs would be formed by dividing the state into zones. “We will sit with the MLAs from each zone for strengthening the health system and achieving better results within set parameters,” she said.
The government is also looking at strengthening the engineering wing of the Health Department. The wing is presently “just a shadow department” of the PWD, she said.
“Our engineers need a proper system at their disposal for supervision of quick completion of projects and better management of the infrastructures getting built,” Lyngdoh said, underlining the importance of human resources (HR) teams to be put in place at the healthcare facilities.
She insisted the engineering wing has the capability to undertake big projects.
“We need to evaluate the HR requirement and think about regularising the staff if the Centre withdraws the National Health Mission,” she said.
