Saturday, 17 June 2023
Young and energetic Dhan Singh Rawat is one of the most active ministers in the cabinet of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. He holds portfolios of Health, Education (both school and higher education) and Cooperatives. Amid his busy schedule and series of meetings, the minister took out time for an interaction with Gajendra Singh Negi of The Pioneer. He listed the achievements in the health and education sectors and future plans of these departments.
Providing health services in a predominantly mountainous state like Uttarakhand has always remained a challenging task. What steps are being taken to meet this challenge?
In Uttarakhand we have a bond system in which the students of government medical colleges enter into a bond to serve in the health department. Earlier the doctors used to break this bond but now we have increased the penalty for not following the conditions of a bond to Rs one crore for UG candidates and Rs two crore for the PG doctors. Now we have only 25 vacant posts of doctors in the State health services. The issue of the shortage of doctors is now a thing of the past. In addition to this we have recruited 3,000 nurses, 1,000 ANMs and 312 technicians in the health services.
The shortage of specialist doctors still persists in the Health department. What measures are being taken to solve the problem?
We are working on the problem. We have started the ‘you quote we pay scheme’ to bring specialist doctors in our services. There are three government medical colleges in our State and from them 140 PG students will pass out every year and join our services. So in the next three years all the posts of specialist doctors would get filled.
Much is said about the importance of helicopter-ambulance service and its importance for a State like Uttarakhand but it has failed to take off in the State.
Our government had floated the tenders for the helicopter ambulance service last year and the services are being provided in some cases. Now we have decided to hand over the task of operation of the service to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh. The service will start formally soon.
What steps have been taken by the government to make the health services accessible for the deprived sections of society?
We have made Ayushman cards of more than 51 lakh persons in the State under which free treatment up to Rs five lakh is given every year. So far 7.7 lakh patients have availed the benefit of the scheme. Our government has started the scheme to provide 265 diagnostic tests free of cost and so far 11 lakh people have availed its benefit. Similarly 1.70 women have taken advantage of free transportation provided to pregnant women.
You also hold the education portfolio which is a priority sector of the government. What is your focus?
Our government has focussed on improvising the quality of the education in the State and has started a drive to fill the vacant posts of teachers. Things are improving rapidly. We have a student teacher ratio of 16:1 which is the highest in the country. We have decided to give compulsory retirement to teachers who are absent from their duties for long. For better evaluation and monitoring we have decided to bring the education system on an online platform. We have set up a Vidya Sameeksha Kendra for the purpose. Uttarakhand is the only State in the country which is providing monthly scholarships to the students from Class VI to post graduate level. We have taken up a task to set up 1,500 cluster schools in the State. These schools will be provided with the best teachers and infrastructure facilities. Transport facilities will also be provided to the students of these schools.
What measures are being taken to improve the higher education sector in the State?
We have taken a target to make 25 model colleges in the State till the year 2025. Our government has decided to get National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) certification for all the government colleges of the State. This year five universities of the State have got the rankings in the NRF. We have now set a target that at least 10 universities of the State get this ranking.
The central leadership of BJP has given you charge of the ongoing mega public connect programme of four Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh. How do you rate the prospects of the party in UP?
I have travelled extensively in UP and have found that the people there are all praise for the working style of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. BJP will achieve a landslide victory in UP in the Lok Sabha polls next year.
