The Government of Arunachal Pradesh is in mission mode to improve and strengthen healthcare in the state. In the past 7 years massive health infrastructure upgradation drive has been taken up in the State.
District Hospitals across the state are being upgraded. Community Health Centres, Primary Health Centres, Sub Centres and Health and Wellness Centres are being strengthened. Maternal and Child Care, institutional delivery points, Critical and Emergency Care, Cancer Care, Renal Care etc. are being improved. While infrastructure is one arm of healthcare development, the State Govt. is also cognizant of the need for Human Resources augmentation.
Human resources requirements are often computed based on population. However, Arunachal Pradesh has unique challenges of difficult terrain, vast geographical spread and low population density. As a result of which, absolute numbers and ratio of Human Resources derived on population basis often becomes insufficient to meet the needs of optimal health service delivery.
In the last two and half years, the human resources gap has been substantially bridged bringing it down from the erstwhile 33% to about 6% now. In fact, the State Government has already met the IPHS requirements of General Duty Medical Officers, facing a shortage only in terms of Specialists.
The Council of Ministers considered the various proposals submitted by the Department of Health & Family Welfare to further strengthen health care services in the State through the three main components – prevention, curative and rehabilitation care services.
Appreciating the need for meeting the present and emerging public health needs, the State Cabinet considered and approved the proposal of the Department of Health & Family Welfare to create a Public Health Nursing Cadre for further strengthening the nursing services across the State through creation of 450 posts of Public Health Nursing Cadre in Groups C, B & A.
Public Health Nursing plays an important part in prevention of diseases. It covers wide ranges of services at CHC, PHC and Sub-center level and has a role in reducing disease outbreaks and promoting a healthier lifestyle through outreach programs and patient guidance, as well as attaining targeted primary health care coverage till the last mile.
Additionally, to meet the pressing secondary healthcare needs due to increasing footfall in the public health facilities, the Council of Ministers considered and approved the proposal of the Department of Health & Family Welfare for the creation of 623 posts of Hospital Nursing Cadre, comprising of Group B non-gazetted, Group B gazetted, & Group A posts. This step is a timely and historic measure to strengthen the Hospital Nursing services across the State. Hospital nurses play an important role in curative care, both definitive and emergency. In step with the hospital infrastructure strengthening and other health sector reforms contemplated by the State Government, the decision will strengthen hospital nursing through provision of adequate skilled human resource.
Further, to attain aatmanirbharta in creating nursing human resources, nursing schools and colleges have been established across the State for which there is additional felt need for nursing faculty posts. Recognizing the need to strengthen professional teaching of nursing curriculum and to meet the Indian Nursing Council Norms, the Council of Ministers was pleased to approved the creation of 5 posts of Associate Professors (Nursing) and 18 posts of Assistant Professors (Nursing).
Laboratory services are very important for providing and maintaining diagnostic services, which are being provided free of cost across the State. The State Govt. has established and installed various modern Labs, diagnostic and medical equipment like MRI, CT scan, Ultrasound machines, Digital X-rays and Blood Banks, etc. in the State. The Free Diagnostic Initiative has benefitted the residents of the State immensely and it is being expanded to the grassroots level, covering the PHCs and Sub-Centers. For proper upkeep and functional operations of the Laboratories, the State Cabinet approved the proposal of the Health Department to create additional 192 posts of Laboratory Technicians.
TRIHMS the lone medical college has successfully produced first batch of final MBBS passed students who are now enrolled in the compulsory one-year internship program. The Government is keen to increase the intake capacity of 50 MBBS students to 110.Besides this, TRIHMS has started services like Cardiac Cath Lab in addition to existing critical care services like ICUs, renal care, cancer care etc.To augment the health human resource of the lone Medical College in the State, the State Cabinet approved the creation of 272 ancillary posts including nursing officers for TRIHMS.
Posts like Lady Health Visitors and Health Assistants which are integral part of health service delivery are presently having multiple modes of entry and service conditions. Existing guidelines (like pay, age, educational qualification etc.) related to their service condition have become archaic. To improve convergence and streamlining of their recruitment rules and provide for career progression the State Cabinet approved the proposed new Recruitment Rules of Lady Health Visitors and Health Assistants.
In the series of decisions taken to augment health human resources and also improve teaching and capacity building, the Council of Ministers approved the creation of 28 Nursing Tutor posts as entry grade posts for ANM Schools abolishing the erstwhile and redundant Clinical Instructor posts.
In all, the Council of Ministers considered and approved the following proposals in the Cabinet Meeting held on 25th August 2023 to attain the objective of “Health for All at All Ages”.
1. Creation of 623 posts of Hospital Nursing Cadre
2. Creation of 450 posts of Public Health Nursing Cadre
3. Creation of 5 posts of Associate Professors (Nursing) and 18 posts of Assistant Professors (Nursing)
4. Creation of 272 ancillary posts including nursing officers, technical assistant etc. in TRIHMS Medical College
5. 192 posts of Laboratory Technician
6. Creation of 28 Tutor(Nursing) Posts in lieu of 28 Clinical Instructor (Nursing)
7. New Recruitment Rules for the post of Health Assistants.
8. New Recruitment Rules for the post of Lady Health Visitor
