HYDERABAD: Health Minister T Harish Rao on Saturday said that among the 80,000 jobs announced by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, doctors were the first to be appointed in the government sector that too in just a matter of six months.
He was speaking at a function where he handed over appointment letters to newly recruited 929 civil assistant surgeons, and urged them to work for the benefit of the poor and needy.
The minister said that the government will complete recruitment for 10,283 vacancies in the Health Department within six months. It will include 24 food inspectors, 18 drug inspectors, 1785 ANMs, and 1982 other staff vacancies.
A notification for the recruitment of 5,204 staff nurses has already been issued.
The government has so far established 21,202 posts in the medical department alone since the formation of the State. Of them, 6,431 were doctors, staff nurses (7,654), para-medical staff (5,192), and other staff (1,927).
“The goal of the Chief Minister is that there shouldn’t be a single vacancy in the health department. The government has also ensured that there is no shortage of medicines,” Harish said.By creating 19 MBBS seats per a population of one lakh, the State has reached the first position in terms of medical seats. Following Telangana are Karnataka (17), Tamil Nadu (15), Gujarat (10) and Maharashtra (9). In the double engine states, nine doctors are being trained for every lakh population, the minister added. Telangana is second in the country in terms of PG seats as there are 2.77 PG doctors per every lakh.
Telangana to set up 16 new medical colleges
There were only five government medical colleges in the State at the time of formation. But now, Telangana has 17 colleges. The number of MBBS seats has also increased to 6,615. Harish announced that, in the next two years, the government will establish 16 new medical colleges, eight per year. There will be 33 medical colleges in all 33 districts.
This will increase the number of MBBS seats along with the increase in medical facilities. The government has kept 20-40 per cent reservations for those working as government doctors in rural areas to get admission to PG courses.