The State Cabinet decision to increase the retirement age of doctors working in government medical colleges from the present 65 to 70 to augment the availability of experienced doctors for educational and medical services in Assam has been appreciated by many.
Dr. Jayanta Kumar Goswami, the head of the Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gauhati Medical College, has termed the decision as far-sighted and historic in view of the ground realities in Assam.
“We have one doctor for every 10,000 persons in the country. The Assam Government decision to set up new colleges and steps like increasing the retirement ages of doctors in Government hospitals is far-sighted and positive. It is the experience of these doctors that will guide the next generation,” Dr Goswami told Asom Barta.
He said that generally a number of professors teach in private institutions post-retirement. “It would be better if the same experience is utilised in government-run institutions,” he added.
In yet another significant decision taken by the Cabinet, ₹ 136.8 crore shall be sanctioned for implementation of free drugs and consumables including the tea gardens’ scheme. The Government has said that this will ensure uninterrupted availability of essential drugs, surgicals, sutured, disinfectants, chemicals and consumables in government-health facilities.
Responding to the Cabinet decision, Dr. Jayanta Kumar Das, a doctor in a tea garden hospital in Nonoi in Nagaon, said that this will indeed go a long way in bridging whatever shortfall that arises in tea estate hospitals despite a very robust supply mechanism under the National Health Mission scheme.