To deal with the shortage of doctors in the state, the Yogi Adityanath government has decided to appoint retired doctors on contractual basis via the National Health Mission.

Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said that the patients should not face any kind of problem due to the shortage of doctors.

He said there were more than 13,700 health and wellness centres in Uttar Pradesh and CHOs (community health officers) were being deployed in them.

Pathak, who also holds the Health portfolio, said, "Hospitals that are short of doctors should list those departments. Doctors can be deployed on a contractual basis via the National Health Mission." Medicines not available in the hospitals should be procured by purchasing them locally by the hospitals, he added.

"For local purchase of medicines, the government is allocating a budget to hospitals. There is no dearth of budget for the welfare schemes for the patients," Pathak said.

While sharing statistics, he said an exam for selecting community health officers (CHOs) was being conducted several times a year and 9,680 CHOs had been trained since 2017.

"The government has set a record in the direction of training CHOs. Since 2017, 9,680 CHOs have been selected and trained. The process of deployment of more than 5,000 CHOs is going on," Pathak said.

Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general of the Association of International Doctors, said, "Appointing retired doctors on a contractual basis will help in two ways. First, their experience will help patients, particularly in the diagnosis of chronic ailments and secondly, the availability of doctors will also increase.”