20 more seats approved for GMCs, district hospitals in JK

Srinagar, Jun 26: In a major achievement for Healthcare Department in J&K, 20 more seats have been approved by National Board of Examinations (NBE) for Govt. Medical Colleges and District Hospitals of J&K. By this, the accredited institutions will get two PG candidates in the certified stream every year. Till now, 39 Super Specialty/ Broad Specialty courses have been approved by NBE which are likely to give 81 seats to the UT, which is over and above the DM/MCH and MD/MS courses already being run in the Jammu & Kashmir.
District Hospital, JLNM Srinagar gets accreditation in General Medicine and has been granted 2 seats for DNB by National Board of Examination. With this, the total seats granted for District Hospitals of J&K are 8.
Pertinent to mention, that DH Gandhi Nagar has earlier got 6 seats in Anesthesia and Medicine, pursuant to which DNB courses have been started in Gandhi Nagar Jammu.
Recently, 6 specialties have been accredited by NBE in new GMCs with an approval of 12 seats. 02 seats have been granted by NBE to new GMC Doda in the department of Pediatrics. With this, GMC Doda is accredited in the specialty of Anesthesia and Pediatrics with a total of 4 seats in both streams.
New GMC Kathua has recently been granted 02 seats in the department of Physiology. With this, GMC Kathua is accredited in the specialty of Pediatrics, Physiology and Community Medicine with a total of 8 seats.
New GMC Anantnag has been granted 02 seats in the department of Pharmacology and 3 seats in the department of Community Medicine. With this, GMC Anantnag is accredited in the specialty of Dermatology, Pharmacology and Community Medicine with a total of 7 seats.
New GMC Rajouri has been granted 01 seat in the department of Orthopedics and new GMC Baramulla has been granted 02 seats in the department of Community Medicine.
Additionally, in old GMCs/ SKIMS, GMC Srinagar has also been granted accreditation in Endocrinology & Immuno hematology and Blood Transfusion departments, and SKIMS Srinagar has been granted accreditation in FNB Interventional Cardiology. 02 seats have been approved in each of these accredited departments.
Pertinent to mention that the DNB (Diplomate of National Board) courses have been introduced in the District Hospitals and new Govt. Medical Colleges besides old GMCs and SKIMS in order to strengthen the institutions, decongest the Govt. Medical Colleges and to address the shortage of specialists in the UT of J&K.
Under the dynamic leadership and concerted efforts of Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary, H&ME Department and Yasin Choudhary, Mission Director, NHM, J&K, 08 District Hospitals and all GMCs/ SKIMS had applied for DNB courses to NBE and a total of 129 applications were submitted by the institutions, out of which 26 applications of old GMCs/ SKIMS, 10 applications of new GMCs and 3 applications of DHs have been approved by National Board of Examinations and a total of 81 seats have been granted to the accredited departments consequent to the concerted efforts and hard work of teams of the institutions. Moreover, 31 more departments of DHs/ GMCs have been assessed by NBE and their accreditation is awaited.
For meeting the IPHS norms of Govt. of India in DNB Districts, NHM J&K has got additional sanction of Staff Nurses for DNB institutions and currently 42 additional nurses have also been provided to each District Hospital implementing DNB programme. Additional Beds along with the accessories and monitors have been provided to these District Hospitals by National Health Mission. Govt. of India has also approved establishment of 08 bedded Hybrid ICU in each DNB District Hospital.
These measures are expected to drastically improve the health care services in the far flung districts and shall improve the services in the tertiary care institutions as well. This is also expected to markedly bring down the referral from the far flung districts to the already overburdened tertiary care institutes of the UT of J&K.