Work in Rural Areas on Holidays, Doctors and Specialists Told

NEW DELHI: As part of the efforts to strengthen the medical facilities in far-flung villages and areas, Union Health Minister Dr Harshvardhan on Sunday appealed to the doctors and specialists to adopt the ‘Work on Holiday’ package to serve the people in these areas.

Speaking at the Annual conference of the Society of Cardiac Anaesthesiology, Vardhan urged the doctors to serve the patients in the hilly areas,  where the respective state governments were finding it terribly difficult to provide secondary and tertiary healthcare.

He cited the example of his recent visit to Mussoorie-- where he had confronted the critical lapses in the public health system of hilly terrain-- which had only two small government hospitals with very few trained doctors which resulted in many preventable deaths.

“The mismatch between the natural beauty of the region stretching from Dehradun to Jaunsaar-Bawar tribal belt, and, the ugly reality of people dying for want of even the basic primary care is a problem we must address with an out-of-the-box approach,” he said.

Dr Vardhan exhorted the specialist doctors to visit the hill stations as guests of the state government. And they could also offer their services as cardiologists, gynaecologists, neurologists and anaesthetists, while simultaneously enjoying the state government’s hospitality with their families. According to the minister, the medics should consider this as an extension of their service. Harshvardhan said he would soon circulate this suggestion among the state governments.

“Even after 67 years of Independence, health for every Indian is still a distant dream. But, I believe if we can put our heart and soul to it, we can achieve it...And, therefore I appeal to all doctors, in every specialty to devote at least some time in small villages, where access to specialised medical services is not easy,” he said.

He also added that though the county faced  a shortage of medical experts, they could still serve patients in a better way. He urged the doctors to find ways to decrease the death rate.

“The deficit in specialist medical practitioners has resulted in patients being  deprived of treatment,” Vardhan added.

He said the medical practitioners should come up with innovative ideas to extend healthcare to the people and asked them to find new ways to cut down on the death rate.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Work-in-Rural-Areas-on-Holidays-Doctors-and-Specialists-Told/2014/09/01/article2408915.ece