Though doctors may be in short supply, the Central Government is set to fly some of them from across the country in air dispensaries to the North-Eastern states to reach out to remote places inaccessible to medicos due to their difficult terrains.
The chopper-based air medical services would be a realty this year, according to the Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER), Jitendra Singh.
The DONER Ministry hopes that Meghalya and Manipur which have comparatively better medical services could be the bases for the chopper dispensaries across the entire NE. Helicopters will be based at two locations - Imphal and Shillong. Three twin-engine helicopters may be stationed for the initial operation on six routes in the region around Imphal, Guwahati and Dibrugarh.
Though Helicopters would be allocated specific areas and time but if some of them are able to cover their areas ahead of their time they would extend their services to other regions too. NE States sharing borders would together share chopper dispensaries.
“Though most of the doctors deployed in the air dispensaries would be locals , doctors would also be made available in the NE from Delhi and as also from across the country...”, sources said. Doctors belonging to the NE will obviously have advantage of local language, they said.
There are estimated 750,000 doctors in the country- one doctor for every 1,425 people. Doctors in the country are generally not inclined to go to rural and inaccessible areas. Some of the states ( Like Haryana) have made at least one-year rural service mandatory for doctors.
DONER Ministry said government is increasing and extending infrastructure in the NE including road and railway network that would help accessing medial services - doctors and medicines.
Government is developing Guwahati airport to streamline air connectivity north in the seven NE states but also with the countries of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region that comprise Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
DONER has already contributed Rs 25 crore as part of the initial funding for chopper dispensaries. Helicopter services Pawan Hans could be roped in for the services.