Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday handed over appointment letters to 425 newly inducted junior specialists, medical officers and dental surgeons, who were recruited for different healthcare institutions.
The induction ceremony was held at the State Convention Centre here where Health Minister Dr Ampareen Lyngdoh and PHE Minister Marcuise N Marak were also present.
Congratulating the newly inducted medical professionals, the Chief Minister urged them to work with commitment and a purpose to serve the society.
"The recruitment process being conducted by the government is completely transparent. You are here because you are capable and you are the best and you have done well in the exam," the CM said.
Separate recruitment board for education and health
Talking about problems with recruitment in government departments, he said, "We have segregated the recruitment process by establishing a board for education and health, which has simplified the process."
Sangma said that the recruitment process was tedious in the past, and in some cases, it even took six years.
"The decision to create a separate recruitment board for education and health has ensured that the process for recruitment was speeded up and vacancies could be filled up," he said.
On strengthening the health sector, the chief minister stated that in terms of percentage, health is given priority with close to 8 per cent of the total state budget earmarked for health.
"The budget for the health department is the highest in the country, as we aim to strengthen and overhaul the health sector," he added.
Improve services in the health sector
The chief minister said that various interventions are being made in the health sector to improve services.
"Rather than having separate housing complexes for different departments, the government has decided to create a housing complex to accommodate doctors, engineers and other government servants," he added.
The chief minister said that apart from district headquarters where the administrative housing complex is coming up, thrust will be given to have such a complex in rural areas for doctors, nurses and other employees of the government.
Patient management system will be launched
"It cannot be implemented immediately across the state, but the government is committed to start construction of housing complexes in a mission mode," he said.
He said that in the next few years, primary health centres and community health centres including hospitals across the state will get a facelift.
He also said that in the next few weeks, a patient management system will be launched in the state for better monitoring of their condition.
"We have done the pilot project in Ribhoi district and the same will be rolled out across the state," the chief minister said.
