State plans to hire 1,500 community health officers

kolkata: In a move to further strengthen health infrastructure in the rural areas, the state Health department decided to recruit around 1,500 community health officers (CHO) in various Suswasthya Kendras across the state.

According to an order issued by the state Health department on November 1, out of total 1,500 vacant posts, around 780 will be meant for general candidates, 330 posts for SC, 90 for ST, OBC (A) 150, OBC (B)105 posts.

Around 45 posts will be reserved for those who have physical disabilities.

The consolidated remuneration for a CHO would be around Rs 20,000 in addition to an incentive of Rs 5,000 per month on the basis of their performance. The candidates have to pass BAMS from a recognised university.

Candidates have to be residents of Bengal and they should be able to read, write and speak Bengali. The candidates must not exceed 40 years but in case of SC/ST/OBC, the candidates will be given 5 years relaxation. The candidates will be selected for training through a merit list.

Health department has already enhanced the health infrastructure manifold to handle the Covid situation. It had inducted over 300 post graduate doctors as 'contractual medical officers' in various hospitals last year.

This was a part of the state government's doctor recruitment drive to further boost the health infrastructure of government hospitals across the state, especially during the pandemic situation.

In the wake of COVID-19 situation the state government is trying to make an adequate arrangement of doctors and health workers to meet the requirements which may arise in the future.

The West Bengal Health Recruitment Board had recruited 1,371 specialist medical officers while 1174 vacant posts of general duty medical officers were also filled up last year.

It may be mentioned here that earlier in 2020, the state Health department had announced the recruitment of over 1,500 medical officers and 9,000 nursing staff in order to mitigate the crisis of nursing staff members and doctors in the state-run hospitals, mostly in the districts.

There are presently more than 12,000 doctors in government hospitals. The number of doctors in government hospitals stood at 4,500 in 2011. The number of nurses has gone up to over 53,000.

When the Mamata Banerjee government came to power there were around 37,366 nurses in government health establishments.