Shamim Firdous chairs Estimates Committee meeting to assess functioning of H&ME department

Jammu, Nov 26: MLA, Shamim Firdous, Wednesday chaired a meeting of the Committee on Estimates to assess the functioning of Health and Medical Education Department.
Legislators, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Abdul Majid Bhat (Larmi), Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Mir, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Professor Gharu Ram Bhagat and Dr Shafi Ahmad Wani besides Secretary, J&K Legislative Assembly, Manoj Kumar Pandit attended the meeting.
The Members of the Committee gave valuable suggestions and highlighted various important issues pertaining to Health and Medical Education Department. They discussed strategies to address the shortage of doctors and para-medical staff in district hospital/health institutions and contain the menace of supply of sub-standard/spurious drugs across Jammu and Kashmir.
The Committee asked to ensure display of roasters of doctors on duty in all district hospitals on day to day basis. It emphasized the hospital administrations for taking due care of sanitation to contain the spread of epidemic diseases across J&K.
The committee recommended several measures to address the pressing issues in Jammu and Kashmir.
To combat the growing menace of drug addiction among youth, the Committee proposed establishing rehabilitation and de-addiction centers. Additionally, they suggested making it mandatory for doctors to serve in far-flung areas, improving healthcare accessibility.
The committee also emphasized the need for sufficient ventilators in all hospitals to treat the critical cases effectively, aiming to enhance the region’s healthcare infrastructure.
Director SKIMS, Professor Ashraf Gani; Principal/Dean, GMC Srinagar, Professor , Iffat Hassan; Principal GMC Jammu, Dr Ashutosh Gupta and other senior officers briefed the Committee about the steps being taken to improve the health facilities for the people in Jammu and Kashmir.
Other issues regarding healthcare infrastructure and utilisation of maximum funds allocated to the health department also came under discussion in the meeting.
During the threadbare discussions, the Committee expressed concern over the increasing death rate in heart attack and cancer patient cases. He stressed on health authorities to ascertain the reasons and take all possible steps to contain the same.
MD, NHM, J&K, Baseer ul Haq; DG Budget, Mohammed Sultan Malik; Director Health Services, Kashmir, Dr Jahangir Bakshi; Director, Health Services Jammu, Dr Hamid Zargar besides other senior officers and officials of Health & ME and Assembly Secretariat attended the meeting.