In an attempt to refurbish its image amidst criticism of being out-shadowed by the critically vociferous ruling party MLAs, the Congress MLAs raised the issue of the pathetic condition of the health services in the State with some vigour on the final day of Monsoon session of the State Assembly on Monday.

Raising the issue under Section 58 on the day, Congress MLA Manoj Rawat said that recent incidents of delivery on the floor and subsequent death of a mother and her newborn baby in the Government Doon Medical College Hospital and the death of an unborn baby of a mentally challenged woman in the same hospital aside from similar cases in Srinagar, Bageshwar and Rudraprayag have revealed the rot set deep into the health services in the state.

Charging the Government for adhocism in recruitment of faculty in medical colleges of the State, Rawat said that Government Medical Colleges of Dehradun and Srinagar have 100 percent faculty members on contract. He, further, said that a fleet of ambulances has remained parked in the office of DG health for the past several months. The leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh also raised the issue of absence of neuro-surgeon in Government medical college in Haldwani.

In his response, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant said that the female hospital of GDMC is facing an over-load of patients. He said that to expedite the process of recruitment of doctors and faculty members, the State Government has constituted a Medical Services Selection Board. Pant added that the process of recruiting 138 assistant professors in the Government medical colleges of the State has started.

Later in the day, Kedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat during the discussion under section 300 raised the issue of closure of Rajiv Gandhi Navodaya Vidhyalayas in the Uttarakhand. He said that five of these schools located in mountainous districts of Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Champawat and Bageshwar have been shut down by the State Government which is unfortunate.