Bisheshwar Mishra
The problem of inaccessibility of doctors for people living in remote hill areas of north-east states will soon be addressed with facility of mobile dispensary on helicopters. Adopted from the “flying doctors” in Australia, this idea, in the north-east states will be applied as “Mobile Air Dispensary”. This information was given to the media by union minister of state for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Dr Jitendra Singh at Imphal today.
Thus a mobile dispensary in a Helicopter with a doctor, necessary equipment and medicines that can fly to remote and far-flug areas on a regular basis and also as and when urgently required, Jitendra Singh said. This experiment which will be the first of its kind is also likely to be replicated in other hilly areas like Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, the minister added.
The minister was on a visit to Manipur. He met the Manipur governor Dr Najma Heptulla and after a few rounds of meeting with state administration in Imphal, Dr Jitendra Singh made this announcement to the press today. He said the governor too endorsed this idea and cited the example of “Royal Flying Service of Australia” popularly known as “Flying Doctors” which is meant to provide aid and primary health care service in remote rural areas there.
He said this idea has already been discussed with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and MoS Shri Jayant Sinha has indicated the inclination to work out its feasibility. Meanwhile, he said, he has also held negotiations with the management of some of the leading helicopter companies in the country. Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that soon, the officers of DoNER Ministry, North Eastern Council and the Government of Manipur will also sit with the officials of Union Ministry of Health to work out the modalities.
Dr Jitendra Singh also discussed issues related to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to set-up a Sports University in Manipur and sought an expeditious decision on allotment of land for setting up the Sports University. This will help in grooming the Northeastern youth in a professional manner, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Union Government accords high priority to Northeastern States and therefore, it is the responsibility of the State Governments to extend full cooperation in implementing the Central Government schemes. He said, he is contemplating a methodology by DoNER Ministry to monitor and point out the lapses on the part of the State Government in implementing the Central schemes.