A Medical Services Recruitment Board (MSRB) to recruit employees for the Health Department, Rs.5-crore project to provide telemedicine facility in primary health centres (PHCs), creation of 42 maternity centres with facilities for emergency Caesarean section and blood transfusion were among the schemes announced by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the Assembly on Saturday to give a fillip to healthcare.
In a suo motu statement, she said that 38 PHCs in 38 taluks would be upgraded by adding 30 beds, scanning facility and operation theatres at a cost of Rs.39 crore.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said that the purpose of the MSRB was to study, in advance, the arising vacancies and recruit candidates to ensure that health schemes did not suffer. Though the staff strength of the department was 91,600, including doctors, nurses, medical and para-medical staff and ministerial staff, 15,600 posts were vacant.
Composition
The Additional Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department would be the Chairman of the MSRB. An officer in the rank of Joint Director would hold the post of ex-officio member and an official in the cadre of District Revenue Officer (DRO) would be member-secretary.
The board would recruit staff based on existing rules. Temporary posts of doctors would be filled by the MSRB. After making suitable amendments to the Tamil Nadu Public Services Commission rules, the recruitment of permanent doctors would also be done by the Board.
Recalling the telemedicine facility introduced during her last regime for facilitating interaction between patients and experts, Ms. Jayalalithaa said that it would now be available to patients living in faraway places through PHCs.
Pointing out that of the 1,589 PHCs, 1,539 were already providing round-the-clock services, she said that the other 50 would also be developed to provide similar services.
Though elective Caesarean section facilities were available in the 283 upgraded PHCs, villages were lacking in such facilities and the government would set up 42 maternity centres with Caesarean section and blood transfusion facilities.
Moreover, 31 sub-centres would be elevated as first grade PHCs to provide round-the-clock service. These would have three nurses. Both the projects would cost Rs.19 crore. The government would set up 20 new PHCs at a cost of Rs.12.80 crore to fulfil the Central norm that there should be a PHC for every 20,000 population in the hills and 30,000 in the plains.
