Nadda’s assurance brings hope for GMCH pending projects

Jaswinder Singh Baidwan

Akhran da mureed
Staff member
The hopes for executing projects pending for a long time at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, were revived today when Union Health Minsiter JP Nadda assured the hospital authorities of all possible help in this regard.
Nadda, who was here to inaugurate a two-day national conference of the Indian Society of Radiographers and Technologists, said he was always ready to work for the uplift of the prestigious health institute in the region.
The GMCH Director-Principal, Dr Atul Sachdev, and UT Health Secretary Anurag Aggarwal had brought to the minister’s notice that funds for various projects of the hospital were not released for years despite repeated efforts.
Dr Sachdev said the hospital had treated 5,22,000 patients last year and had performed 14,951 major and 29,026 minor surgeries. The gynaecology ward was catering to patients double than its capacity. Despite this, no funds had been released for setting up a super-speciality block and a mother and child care centre for long, he said.
Health Secretary Aggarwal said for a trauma centre, the Chandigarh Administration had allotted 10 acres in Sector 53. However, the work had not started on the project. After setting up the trauma centre, it would be much easier to handle the ever-increasing number of patients at the institute and provide them quality treatment.
Earlier, Indian Society of Radiographers and Technologists president A Selvakumar and general secretary Suresh Malayath expressed concern over the mushrooming of institutes providing various courses in radiography without having a proper infrastructure. They said in the absence of any regulatory body, a large number of “inefficient” radiographers were being produced at such institutes, which would ultimately prove a “disaster for humanity”.
NCISRT vice-chairperson LK Tiwari delivered a vote of thanks.
The GMCH Nurses Welfare Association also submitted a memorandum to the minister. Association president Vijay Kumar said the nursing staff were not given any financial benefit ever since their appointment in 1996. In 2008, the then Union Health Minister had directed that a nursing allowance would be given to employees at all hospitals run by the Central Government and union territories. However, they were yet to get it, he said.
Vijay said the male nursing staff had demanded that their designation should be changed to nursing officer.
 
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