Chennai, November 13 (IANS). Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramaniam has said the health department will start the counseling process from Thursday to regularize the services of nurses working on contract and fill 1,271 vacancies in government hospitals.
MK for improving health services. Reiterating the commitment of the Stalin government, the minister said that the examination will be conducted in January 2025 to fill 2,553 vacant posts of doctors in hospitals.
According to Minister Subramaniam, even after regularization of services of 1,271 nurses, there will be 954 vacancies in hospitals and the government will try to fill them as soon as possible.
Department officials said that the minister has directed that these nurses should be allotted places of their choice.
The minister also directed officials to consider the seniority of nurses while taking any decision on their posting.
The process, which began on Thursday, is the second round of regularization of nurses’ services since 2020.
Earlier, the Tamil Nadu Health Department had regularized the services of 1,412 contract nurses, who were initially recruited on contract basis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state had recruited 2,400 nurses at a monthly salary of Rs 14,000 to address the public health emergency declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in May 2020. However, his contract expired on 31 December 2022.
The Health Minister said that the government is also working on the process of filling the vacant posts of doctors in government hospitals.
The health department will conduct the examination on January 27 to fill 2,553 doctor vacancies. Plans are also underway to appoint doctors and nurses for urban health and wellness centers across the state.
Each urban health and welfare centers will be staffed by four doctors, nurses, health inspectors and workers. An official said the recruitment will be managed by the district health committees at the district level.
The state government plans to open 708 urban health and wellness centers in 21 corporations and 63 municipalities in Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin inaugurated 500 urban health and wellness centers in June 2023 under the first phase, while the remaining 208 centers will open after the appointment of doctors and nurses.
–IANS
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