Kolkata, Feb. 18 -- State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim said that the process has been initiated for filling up vacant posts of doctors and nurses in the Health and Wellness centres under the aegis of the department.
"The Health and wellness centres play a crucial role in providing healthcare facilities to the urban people. I have already started talks with the Finance department for providing clearance to recruitment in the vacant posts," Hakim said at the state Assembly.
According to Hakim, there are 983 sub-centres, 222 Health administrative units and 45 speciality outdoor centres under his department. There are 42 maternity centres with 716 beds.
Besides this, there are 703 urban Health centres in the state among which 532 are functional. Some of them have a permanent building while the rest run from rented buildings.
Another 200 urban Health centres are in various stages of construction. The number of doctors and nurses in these health centres is 1691 and 747 respectively.
The department is presently roping in doctors on a temporary basis for running the Health centres under its aegis, said the minister.
The vacancies in the health centres are 1025 for doctors and 512 for nurses.
According to Hakim, another 171 urban Health centres are expected to be functional from September this year.
The minister said that the respective municipalities will have to take up the responsibility of engaging sweepers or night guards for these Health centres, reiterating that the department couldn't address such problems.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.