Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday announced setting up of separate cell for nurses in the Directorate of Health Service (DHS).
Presiding over the closing ceremony of International Nurses Day at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC), he also announced increase in diet allowance from Rs 6 to Rs 25 besides regularizing the services of the nurses appointed on contract basis by Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS) who had completed five years of contractual service.
Chief Minister said steps were afoot to fill all the vacant posts in far flung and rural areas of the state and more health institutions were either being upgraded or opened in such areas.
He said that the new projects which are in pipeline to strengthen the hospital were construction of new multi-storeyed OPD block near Auckland tunnel, a super speciality block and new block of Kamla Nehru Hospital.
"Institutions are not setup overnight, they are like a living organism, with certain set of targets and aims and it takes time to develop as perfect institutions," he said, adding that a separate state hospital of mother and child was coming up in the campus of Kamla Nehru hospital which would be a part of IGMC.
He said the ESIC College at Ner Chowk in Mandi district would also be taken over by the government for which talks are on and exhorted the doctors and paramedical staff to work with dedication and develop human spirit in their working.
Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said nurses had greater responsibility than doctors as they play a crucial role in care of patients.
He said 4,025 posts of paramedical staff had been sanctioned besides 377 posts of nurses had been sent to Service Selection Board, Hamirpur to be filled to meet the shortage of Nurses in IGMC and Medical College in Nahan.
He exhorted nurses to play a pivotal role in improving the sex ratio and said sex ratio in Lahaul Spiti district of the state was highest in the country as per 2011 census and stands as 1000/1033 (male/female).
