Principal secretary of health Amarjeet Sinha (left) and health secretary Sanjay Kumar address a news conference in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, Aug. 18: Waking up to the needs of the healthcare system, the state health department has decided to strengthen the nursing cadre.

Announcing this at a news meet in the capital today, health department principal secretary Amarjeet Sinha said that 34,507 nurses would be recruited soon.

“We want to have at least one auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) or female health worker in all 45,100 villages of the state. But we also wanted to ensure these health professionals are skilled and trained. We have started a nurse skill testing laboratory at Guru Gobind Singh Laboratory in Patna City- a first of its kind in the country,” said Sinha.

“We plan to have labs like these in all 38 districts. We are collaborating with Unicef, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Department for International Development (British government) for the purpose,” Sinha said.

He added that health workers such as Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and MAMTAs would be assisted in getting recruited as ANMs and general nurse midwife. “We also plan to open a nursing directorate soon to strengthen the cadre further. The proposal will soon be presented before the cabinet for approval,” he added.

Sinha also announced that a dispensary would be established at Vikas Bhavan to provide free health checkups to government employees.

“They will be provided with free diagnoses like ECG, blood pressure test, blood sugar test and others,” he added.

The principal secretary also said the state government was keen to complete the up-gradation of Rajvanshi Nagar, Rajendra Nagar and Gardiner Road hospitals as superspecialty hospitals,” he said.

“The construction of additional floor at Rajvanshi Nagar Hospital is complete. We are in the process of appointing doctors for the bone superspecialty unit there with suggestions from veteran doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. These appointments should be finalised within the next two months,” he said and added that two other hospitals would be upgraded soon.

Health secretary Sanjay Kumar said the Union government has been requested to grant permission and funds to develop Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital at Muzaffarpur on the pattern of AIIMS in the 12th Five-Year Plan.