HYDERABAD: With an aim to strengthen primary healthcare services, the health department announced major changes in the facilities that come under the Directorate of Public Health, on Thursday. Issuing a government order (No. 142), the department announced that new PHCs will be established in the newly created 40 mandals while 30 other mandals, previously upgraded to hospitals, will receive PHCs due to the transfer of CHCs to Telangana High Court offering partial relief to infrastructure firm in a land dispute case. Moreover, a sufficient number of staffers will be hired in 235 UPHCs across the state.
Considering that the staffing pattern in the 636 PHCs across the State is not uniform, the order created several posts. PHCs with irregular staffing are being reorganised to achieve uniformity. Guidelines were formulated to allocate adequate medical staff based on patient load. Recognising the need for expanded medical services, the government introduced 5 additional District Medical & Health Officers (DMHOs) for six zones under the GHMC including Charminar, LB Nagar, Serilingampally, Kukatpally, Khairatabad, and Secunderabad, raising the total count to 38 DMHOs across the State.
Dental assistant surgeons have been included in Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad hospitals, and the Government TB Hospital in Vikarabad has come under the Directorate of Medical Education. While 1,712 posts have been converted into supernumerary posts, the Multipurpose Health Assistant (female) cadre remains unaffected by this rationalisation.