Delhi Health Services constituted to better health delivery sys

New Delhi, Nov 13: The Delhi cabinet today gave its nod for constituting 'Delhi Health Services' for effectively managing the health delivery system in the capital.

The cabinet, meeting of which was presided by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, authorised the Department of Health and Family Welfare to take consequential steps including holding of consultations with the UPSC either for the purposes of the framing of service regulations or seeking assessment of the suitability of the persons to be appointed under initial constitution.

She expressed confidence that the constitution of the new service would make process of recruitment more smooth. The initial constitution of the service shall provide for appointment by transfer from Central Health Service and by transfer amongst those who had been appointed by the Delhi government on contract basis on or before April 10, 2006.

Delhi government had 1,174 sanctioned posts of General Duty Medical officers (GDMOs), 410 Non-Teaching Specialists, 349 Teaching Specialists and four Public Health Specialists.

Even after making contract appointments against ex-cadre posts the department was short of 238 GDMOs and 53 Non-Teaching Specialists.

The constitution of new services would also go a long way in protecting interests of the medical staff.

The cabinet also gave nod to an agreement between the state government and the Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi for management of the Institute as an autonomous body, regarding transfer of existing infrastructure, land, building and equipments of Maulana Azad Dental College and Hospital on suitable terms/conditions/token rent.

The cabinet also decided to tighten its grip over private power distribution companies in the city in view of large number of complaints being received from the customers. The government was concerned about the number of complaints being received from customers regarding faulty billing system, frequent load-shedding despite sufficient power supply and alleged harassment by the enforcement staff.

Hence the cabinet directed the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Power) to summon heads of Discoms (NDPL and BSES) and convey the annoyance of government to them.

They had also been directed to apprise the government about their consultations with the Discoms.

The cabinet also discussed the proposal to construct a corridor between Central Secretariat and Badarpur via Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium that was expected to be completed before the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

It sought answers from the Delhi Metro Rail Corp to certain queries about the line.

The cabinet felt that the line would not only ease the flow of traffic around congested areas but also provide state-of-the-art facility for movement of spectators commuting to different venues of the games.

The corridor would reduce journey time by directly connecting an important ''events area'' (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium) and business area of Nehru Place with central business district of CP.

The Central Secretariat and Khan Market stations would be underground, JN Stadium at ground level and the 11 other stations would be elevated.

UNI