Dehradun: Nurses To Be Trained To Prescribe Medicines, Refer Patients To Higher Centres

DEHRADUN, 10 FEB 2019: In order to bolster health services and tide over shortage of doctors in far-flung areas, nurses in Uttarakhand would be trained to prescribe medicines and refer emergency patients to higher centres.

These nurses would be called ‘Community Health Officers (CHOs)’ and would undergo rigorous six-month training after which they will be deployed in remote areas where health services are in dire need. The state has over 1,200 nurses and around 40% doctors’ post is lying vacant.

“We want to take optimum usage of paramedical staff and like western world we are also paying more attention in strengthening the lower staff of hospital rather bulking the doctors with excessive work. Ayushaman Bharat Yojna and even the state's Atal Aayushman Yojana won’t work if we don’t take major steps to bolster the health services. Similarly, we are planning additional role for staff of other cadres of health department to remove the void in health facilities of Uttarakhand." said additional secretary of health department, Yugal Kishore Pant.ET Healthworld