Srinagar, May 6: Minister for Health, Medical Education, Social Welfare and Education, Sakeena Itoo, on Tuesday chaired a high-level review meeting to assess recruitment processes being carried out by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) across key departments, including Health, Education, Social Welfare, and SKIMS Soura.

The meeting, attended by senior officials from JKSSB, SKIMS, and various departments, focused on expediting transparent, merit-based recruitment to address critical manpower shortages in essential public services.
Sakeena Itoo stressed the government’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and timely filling of vacancies, particularly in the Health and Education sectors. She directed authorities to accelerate ongoing selection processes and ensure strict adherence to merit and timelines, noting that adequate human resources are vital for improving service delivery, especially in remote and underserved areas.
Highlighting SKIMS Soura as a premier health institution, she instructed close coordination between SKIMS and JKSSB to ensure timely recruitment of pending posts. She also asked JKSSB to examine the possibility of reducing application fees by benchmarking with other states and UTs.
Chairman JKSSB, Vikas Kundal, briefed the meeting on the current recruitment status, stating that 5,789 selections have been completed in the past 18 months across multiple departments, including technical, paramedical, and administrative categories. He also informed that over 700 Junior Engineer selections were finalized recently and assured that recruitment for more than 150 Health Department posts would be completed within one and a half months.
He further said that 12,997 posts are currently under JKSSB consideration at various stages of recruitment, reflecting the ongoing effort to streamline staffing across departments.
The Minister expressed satisfaction over the pace of recruitment but emphasized that sustained focus is required to meet future manpower needs without delay.