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Himachal raises health budget

By Our Staff Correspondent

SHIMLA SEPT. 1 4.The Himachal Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, said here yesterday that the State Government has enhanced the budget provision for health services by 59 per cent for the current financial year and it was providing better health services through a network of 2600 health institutions in the State.

Inaugurating a two-day conference on Continuing Medical Education-Anaesthesia and Critical Care-2003, organised by the Department of Anesthesia of Indira Gandhi Medical College in collaboration with Indian Society of Anaesthesia, Mr. Singh said the budget outlay for health services had been enhanced to Rs. 313 crores from Rs. 197 crores . He said the Government was committed to provide necessary functional staff and infrastructure to strengthen health services in the State and added that the process for filling up of all functional posts has been started and 100 more doctors and 181 staff nurses would be recruited soon.

The Chief Minister said three regional diagnostic centres would be made functional in Regional Hospitals of Solan, Bilaspur and Hamirpur from next year and a sum of Rs. 9 crore would be spent on it while ICMR Cancer Projects had also been started in Mandi, Bilaspur and Hamirpur districts for better diagnostic facilities. He said that with the setting up of Para-Medical Council, the Para medical staff would be trained soon. He said that State Government had withdrawn the enhanced user charges in the various hospitals and the position as on March 23, 1998 had been restored.

He said that the necessary infrastructure was being created at the IGMC for starting open-heart surgery, MRI and other related facilities. He said that various other departments of the IGMC were also being strengthened to meet the rising demand of super specialty services while special attention was being paid to strengthen the anaesthesia and gynaecology departments, which had been running short of adequate professionals.

Mr.Singh said with the establishment of a round- the- clock emergency operation theatre, specialised pain and pre-anaesthesia clinics, the services at the IGMC had improved considerably.

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