Udhampur (JK), Oct 7 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir government is all set to recruit 1,700 doctors to strengthen the healthcare system, Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha said on Wednesday.

"There is a shortage of paramedics and doctors in J-K. There are vacancies. We are going to start the recruitment of 1,700 doctors soon," Sinha told an event organised as part of the "Back-to-Village-3" campaign in Udhampur district's Kud area.

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"Since we are facing a pandemic and new lifestyle diseases, we have ensured universal life and health cover for all people in our villages.... we will deliver on this," he added.

The Lt Governor appreciated the progress achieved by the district in the health sector and stressed on expediting the work on recently approved new medical colleges.

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Summarising achievements of the "Back-to-Village" programme, the Lt Governor announced that 1.79 lakh beneficiaries have been linked with the Jammu & Kashmir Health Insurance Scheme, 65,000 farmers have been provided Kisan Credit Card, 1.55 lakh ration cards have been seeded with Aadhaar and more than 55,000 farmers have benefitted under PM KISAN initiative.

"It is heartening to know that school enrolment in the district has increased over the past years; three new colleges are coming up while four others are already operational. It should be our collective responsibility to reduce the school dropout rate in the district," said the Lt Governor.

He complimented the district administration for the 'Back to School' initiative which has led to resumption of studies for school dropouts.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)