Srinagar – The government on Thursday admitted to a severe shortage of manpower in the state health services, saying that hospitals had vacancies of 1309 doctors and 6213 paramedical and Class IV personnel.
Replying to a question from Congress legislator Jugal Kishore, the minister for medical education, RS Chib said that the Jammu division had 958 paramedical and 644 Class IV vacancies, while the number for the Kashmir division stood at 1200 and 369 respectively.
In the state cadre, Jammu and Kashmir had 1309 vacancies for doctors, he said.
The government has directed recruitment agencies such as the Public Services Commission and the Services Selection Board to fill the vacancies at the earliest, the minister said.
To tide over manpower shortages in hospitals temporarily, the services of 835 doctors and 3762 paramedics have been engaged under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), he said.
Thirteen NRHM schemes are operational in the state presently to improve the pub,ic health situation, he said.(Observer News Service)