Noida: Minister for health and family welfare Rita Bahuguna Joshi on Friday backed the idea of integration of various departments concerning the health sector into one ministry instead of being divided under four — medical health, medical education, family welfare and Ayush.
Though there is no concrete proposal on bringing together all health departments into one, Joshi said the issue is under consideration at the behest of the Union government.
“At the moment, there is no concrete proposal but even I think that a little re-organisation should to be there. Like, we have direct communication with the Centre. There is organisation of different ministries in the Centre… On the same lines, this concept (at the state level) is under consideration in UP, but there is no concrete proposal so far,” she said.
“I am sure the chief minister will take a call on this issue,” said the minister who was in Noida for the inauguration of the state’s third District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) — a modern centre for providing treatment to the children suffering from birth defects, deficiencies, development delays leading to disabilities etc, under the National Health Mission (NHM).
Talking to TOI about the dog attacks on children, she said the state has to abide by the animal protection laws. Some 23 children have been injured by dogs in Sitapur district since November 2017.
“You know there are animal protection laws and we have to work in accordance with the laws. Otherwise, media will say that the laws were violated. So, the only way is to sterilise them and control their population. The laws say you cannot bring them out of the habitat, it says you cannot kill them. So, obviously, sterilisation is the only solution,” Joshi said.
“Sterilisation of stray dogs is going on in a massive scale in the country and in UP too, it will take four to five years to get better,” she added.