Kanti Velugu: HRDA sends SOS to TS govt; urges to fill up 2659 vacant posts immediately

Ahead of the Kanti Velugu program, Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) has written to Principal Secretary of Health Medical & Family Welfare Syed Ali Murtaza Rizvi requesting him to issue notification for filling up the vacant positions.

They have listed the assistant professor positions under the Directorate of Medical Education and Specialist Medical Officers positions in Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad, including the 13 and 49 ophthalmologist vacancies in DME and TVVP, respectively.

"We bring to your kind notice that in TVVP, the department, which serves rural areas, came to know that out of sanctioned specialists posts of 4030, only 1371 specialists are working, and 2659 specialists posts are vacant. Likewise, there are 1100 Assistant Professors vacancies in Medical Colleges apart from newly approved eight medical colleges in DME," the HRDA said.

They urged the government to immediately issue a notification to fill all specialist vacancies within a short period in both DME and TVVP, along with spending Rs 200 crore on interim programs like Kanti Velugu.

The HRDA also cited the recent news article on the health profile pilot project in Mulugu and Sircilla that revealed many rural people are suffering from NCDs like Hypertension, Diabetes, Hypercholesterolemia, anemia, and also with diseases related to kidney, thyroid, and liver.

Telangana government has released Rs. 200 crore for the second phase of Kanti Velugu, that is starting from 18th January 2023, where one and a half crore people will undergo eye tests, and glasses will be provided to 55 lakh people free of cost.

The scheme was first launched on August 15, 2018, in Malkapur of Medak district, with the plan to have eye checkup camps at regular intervals.