Double Incentives for Doctors in Remote Areas of Odisha, India

Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, announced in the State Assembly that the incentive for doctors working in the remote areas of Odisha would be doubled. // He said the government has decided to post at least one doctor in each Public Health Centre (PHC) and Community Health Centre (CHC) of the state so that none of the government hospitals will go without a doctor. Remote areas would be classified into four segments to ensure uninterrupted health services.

“The government will come up with a new transfer policy for doctors. Doctors who have been working in the remote areas will be transferred and will be given a choice of three places for their next posting. The exercise will be completed by the next transfer season,” he said.

The minister also said that 48 new PHCs and CHCs will be opened in urban areas to provide health services to the poor and needy and the AYUSH doctors would be appointed in government hospitals. Nayak said the state government has allocated Rs.202.56 crore to Odisha State Medical Corporation (OSMC) for the free distribution of medicines to poor patients at the CHC level from May this year.

For the people living in urban slums, the government would set up mobile health services. Nayak also said that the state government has earmarked Rs.50 crore in its health budget to bring down maternal and infant mortality in the state. It has also decided to purchase 200 ambulance vans to provide quick health services to the ailing mothers and children.

Source-Medindia