Working in rural areas may become more attractive. Doctors and nurses working in rural centres can now expect additional pay.

Paramedics trained to deal with emmergency situations will now be posted in ambulances and emergency rooms in rural dispensaries. Goa becomes the first state in the country with this facility.

The Primary Health Centre at Siolim has a sanctioned strength of 4 medical officers. Presently there are just 2.

The state cabinet on Wednesday decided to establish 64 new health sub-centres in rural areas of the state, with an aim to take care of the health needs of the residents. The project would be taken up under the National Rural Health Mission of the central government, with the state having a share of 50 per cent of the involved expenditure.

PANAJI: June, the first month of monsoon in Goa, this year saw near 50 per cent drop in the cases of malaria, as compared to last year; such cases reduced from 941 in June 2008 to 493 in June this year.

The health care delivery system has been changing rapidly in India due to the progressive implementation of managed systems of care and competitive medical practice. But no systematic effort has been made to define the element of physician supply and requirements at the micro level. With private players coming in a big way in the health care sector the methodology for assessment of physician requirement has changed, but it is yet to make a significant impact on the state governments, which continue to be guided by the old bureaucratic doctrine. 

The doctor/ public ratio in Goa has improved over the last two decades. During the year 1987-88, there existed one doctor for every 882 persons in Goa while in the year 2006 there was one doctor for every 586 persons in the state. 

The recently notified Goa Health Services Development Act, 2008, gives overriding powers to the Goa Health Services Development Corporation to issue directions to local authorities to grant permission to new health estates. 

The state government has dropped the idea of permitting a private medical college in the state and has instead decided to increase the intake capacity in the Goa Medical College by another 100. The GMC at present has an intake capacity of 100 students.

Not only will all sections of society be soon eligible for medical reimbursement, but citizens in Goa will see quicker clearances of their mediclaim applications as well as health estates in the state. 

This comes thanks to the newly notified Goa Health Services Development Act, 2008, which received the governor's assent recently and incorporates a universal mediclaim scheme. Under the new Act, the government also envisages the setting up of a Goa Health Services Development Corporation.