Health Ministry officials to get awards for speedy file clearance
New Delhi: As Lok Sabha election is around the corner, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has come out with a unique plan to 'motivate' officials for not 'stalling' key health projects in the name of red-tapism.
Interestingly, the Health Ministry has decided to give awards to officials ranging from secretary to undersecretary for clearing files related to welfare schemes. The awards would be given by Health Minister JP Nadda on the basis of how fast an official has cleared the file.
According to sources, the award has been constituted to give a push to important health policies related to medical education, availability of quality doctors, immunisation, the establishment of medical institutions, etc.
"The ministry is keeping a record of the performances of the officials ranging from secretary to undersecretary. The record is being maintained on the basis of the time taken by officials in clearing files presented before them," the source said, adding that there are over 80 officials, including secretary, additional secretaries, joint secretaries, directors, deputy secretaries and undersecretaries, whose reports are being prepared for felicitation.
"The performance record has the details about the number of files being received by the official; the number of files cleared in how much time; time taken in giving comments on the files, etc," the sources said.
As per the performance report, which is analysed by Millennium Post, in the category of secretary and special secretary-level officials, the performance of the health secretary is much better than the rest of the other officials. In the month of September, Health Secretary cleared 573 filed and took
on an average 11 hours and 46 minutes to give comments on the files.
Similarly, in the category of additional secretary, Arun Singhal, a 1987 batch IAS officer, is at the top. Singhal cleared 300 filed out of total 316 filed received in the month of September and took on an average 16 hours 26 minutes in writing his comments on the files.
The awards would be given to two under secretary/special secretary category, four under additional secretary category, 13 under joint secretary category, 19 under director category, three under deputy secretary category and 46 awards for undersecretaries for their performances.
