Uttarakhand requests centre for more doctors

The Uttarakhand government has urged the union health ministry to send more doctors to the flood-ravaged state.

The state has made a fresh request for 238 specialists in the fields of anaesthesia, surgery, general medicine, paediatrics and gynaecology, a senior health ministry official here said, adding the request is being processed on a fast track basis.

Members of a medical team from the centre are already stationed in Uttarakhand since June 26. Two fresh teams with two members each drawn from National Centre for Disease Control and central government hospitals are on way to the Uttarakhand capital Dehradun to replace the first team.

A three-member team from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, has also been deployed for relief work in the affected districts. "Two such teams are already in the field," the ministry official said.

Three truck loads of medicines from central government hospitals have been handed over to the state health authorities for distribution.

Hundreds, probably thousands, were killed after unprecedented floods and landslides caused havoc in Uttarakhand last month.

While over 100,000 people have been evacuated from flood-hit areas of the state, thousands have been reported missing.