Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today held an extensive interaction with Secretary, Health and Family Welfare (H&FW), Government of India, Punya Salila Srivastava, to deliberate on avenues for strengthening health infrastructure and upgrading healthcare services across Jammu and Kashmir.

At the outset, the Chief Secretary conveyed his gratitude to the Ministry for enhancing MBBS intake capacity in several medical colleges of the Union Territory.

The meeting reviewed progress on centrally sponsored key construction projects, the introduction of specialization courses such as MD/MS, DM/MCH, and DNB in newly established medical colleges, and the proposal for increasing 50 MBBS seats in other colleges that had applied. Discussions also focused on extending support for strengthening tertiary care facilities in the recently established Government Medical Colleges (GMCs).

The Chief Secretary further sought the Ministry’s intervention in expediting the completion of AIIMS Awantipora and facilitating expansion of AIIMS Jammu. He assured full cooperation of the J&K administration in implementing all initiatives of the Ministry in the Union Territory.

The Union Health Secretary assured the Chief Secretary of sympathetic consideration and timely action on all the issues raised during the meeting.