No infrastructure to act against quacks

FATEHGARH SAHIB, July 27: Punjab Minister for Health and Family Welfare Manoranjan Kalia admitted that he did not have data on how many q...

FATEHGARH SAHIB, July 27: Punjab Minister for Health and Family Welfare Manoranjan Kalia admitted that he did not have data on how many quacks his department has taken action against.

It is worthwhile to note that on November 6 last year, the director health and family welfare had written a letter to all the civil surgeons in the state that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the director health services, Punjab to launch a mass campaign in the state to weed out unregistered medical practitioners within one month.

Talking to media persons at Sirhind today, Kalia said that the department did not had proper infrastructure to take effective action against quacks. He said there were only seven drug inspectors in the state against the 17 posts and keeping in view the number of shops, according to a commission report,there wasa need for at least 61 drug inspectors.

Kalia said that when all the vacancies of doctors would be filled, the quacks would automatically be eradicated. The minister said that 700 doctors were needed in the state and his department had demanded 500 new doctors but the Punjab Civil Service Commission had created only 325 posts. He said at present 500 doctors were still needed, as the department had dismissed 100 doctors while about 225 doctors had been charge-sheeted.

The minister disclosed that the government had earmarked Rs 126 crore for health services in Punjab last year. Of this, Rs 26 crore had been spent on the health services while during the Congress regime, only Rs 2 crore was spent. He said that 69 new ambulances were being provided soon in the hospitals of the state while 58 more would be provided by January.

On health services to the workers covered under ESI, he said that ESI Corporation was providing only Rs 500 per head and this amount was not sufficient. So the government was making efforts to raise this amount to Rs 900 per head.

Earlier, the minister administered the oath of office to panchas and sarpanches at a special function at new grain market in Sirhind. He urged them to ensure proper utilisation of grants for development projects. He also said that they should keep a vigil on the working of government officials.