A team of five doctors from Karnataka have left for flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir with medicines to help survivors and contain spread of communicable diseases.
Health Minister U.T. Khader told presspersons on Thursday the Health Department was willing to take charge of the healthcare needs of an entire city in Jammu and Kashmir if it is identified by the government there and handed over to it. “Five doctors will go in the first batch with medicines. We are ready with a team of 12 more doctors whose services can be meaningfully utilised,” said Mr. Khader.
He said they were talking to the State and Central Health departments to monitor the situation.
The five-member team comprises a senior orthopaedic surgeon Vivek Dorai, anaesthetist Vishwajith Naik, general physicians Shashidhar, Mahendra and Dayanand.
Health DaySpeaking about measures to check spread of communicable diseases like dengue in Karnataka, he said hospitals were given an “action plan” to handle it. Mr. Khader said he was planning a joint meeting with the Urban Development and other departments on the issue.
He said there was a plan to declare one day in a week as ‘Health Day’ to involve communities in activities such as removing stagnant water in localities.
The Minister admitted there was a shortage of about 250 junior doctors and 1,600 specialists. To mitigate this, the government hopes to introduce an apprenticeship programme for fresh medical graduates to train under specialists for two years, after which they can be recruited in government hospitals.
