Med cover for poor from March

March will herald an easing of the medical burden of the poor, according to state minister for medical education Vijaykumar Gavit.

Gavit said that Rajiv Sree Yojana, a statewide medical insurance plan for the poor, would be launched from March.

The insurance would cover those families whose annual income is less than Rs1 lakh. And the total amount paid out by the insurance would be Rs1.5 lakh.

He spoke about the importance of having more doctors and surgeons in the city. “We have a shortage of high-quality surgeons and doctors. It’s our endeavour to increase the seats in government medical colleges to ensure that more doctors come through the ranks in Maharashtra.”

Four new medical colleges will be set up in Mumbai, Satara, Raigad and Nandurbar which would increase the number of undergraduate medical seats available. The existing medical colleges in Aurangabad, Nagpur and Dhule will also increase their undergraduate student capacity by 300 to 400.

Two more medical colleges are in the pipeline though where they will be set up is yet to be decided.

On postgraduate medical education, Gavit said: “We’re currently filling the seats on a contract basis.”

Changes are being made to medical education in the state to ensure that the number of quality doctors in government hospitals and medical colleges remain high.

“We have increased their salaries and have also relaxed the promotion system. Earlier it would take four years for a lecturer to get to the position of an assistant professor. Now, based on their experience and performance, they can make the jump in only a year. We’ve relaxed the promotion process from assistant professor to professor too,” Gavit said.

The state has also increased the retirement age of doctors from 58 to 62. The most important development in the rejig is that from June every government medical college will have two new departments — hospital administration and medical emergency. These departments will include teaching and service.

“There will be staff providing round-the-clock emergency medical services which will benefit the people of the state,” said Gavit.