Minister for Health and Medical Education, Sakeena Itoo, today said that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has made a remarkable announcement of granting incentives to employees posted in far flung and remote areas while presenting Budget 2026-27.
The Minister stated this while replying to a question of Legislator Javaid Ahmad Mirchal in the House today.
She highlighted that this unique step will streamline the public service delivery in far flung and remote areas, particularly in vital sectors like Health, Education and others.
While giving details regarding measures taken to mitigate the dearth of medical/paramedical staff at SDH Tangdar Karnah, the Minister said that in order to cater to shortage of doctors in far flung/peripheral areas, the H&ME department has recently referred 480 posts of Medical Officers to JKPSC for recruitment. She added that after completion of the selection process, the newly selected doctors shall be posted to far-flung/under-served areas and health institutions facing shortage of staff including SDH Tangdar Karnah and other border areas as per requirement and policy in vogue.
The Minister also informed the House that 292 vacancies in the non-gazetted/paramedical category from the Directorate of Family Welfare, Maternity and Child Health (MCH) and Immunization have been referred to JKSSB for recruitment and stands advertised for making selection of suitable candidates.
She added that 802 non-gazetted, MTS vacancies and Sanitation Worker posts pertaining to Directorate of Health Services, Kashmir are under examination in the department for referral to JKSSB.
The Minister also informed the House that two doctors had been appointed as Medical Officers in the year 2024 and posted at NTPHC Hajinar and NTPHC Gundishor. She added that the two doctors failed to join duty, resulting in their appointment orders being cancelled and services terminated. She added that the two doctors failed to join duty, resulting in their appointment orders being cancelled and services terminated.
The Minister said that as per NHM guidelines, staff is ordinarily posted against the sanctioned positions in sub-centres of Karnah Constituency but over a period of time, a few NHM staff has been temporarily readjusted/relocated on exceptional and justified grounds like medical reasons or administrative exigencies, without adversely affecting the service delivery. She said that current the NHM staff posted in Karnah is largely in position.
Legislator, Nazir Ahmad Khan (Gurezi) raised supplementary question.
