Shillong, Dec 2: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Friday inaugurated the General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) School, at Pahamsyiem, Nongpoh, Ri-Bhoi District.

I encourage those pursuing the nursing courses to learn other languages so that they can also explore career options abroad.

I wish the faculty, staff and students of the GNM School of Nursing, Nongpoh the very best!

— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) December 2, 2022

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said the Government has been investing in the health sector to ensure better health facilities in the State. He said that the State had to face a lot of challenges in the last two years due to the Covid pandemic and to overcome similar situations in the future the Government has taken the initiative to overhaul the health infrastructure and ensure better services.

“As a government, we have been spending a lot in terms of our health sector. In the nation as a whole, we are most probably the fourth highest in terms of the percentage of GDP that is spent on the health sector. We put a lot of focus on the health sector and that has only increased after the Covid,” he said.

He informed the gathering that a number of Sub-Centres and PHCs are being upgraded, in addition to establishment of new healthcare facilities in the rural areas of the State.

“We have all realised how much the health sector requires, whether in terms of the infrastructure, manpower or even technology. Hence, there is a huge need for investment in the health sector and that means everything from putting up more PHCs and Sub-Centers and ensuring enough trained manpower to ensure that we are able to give proper services to our people,” he said.

He added that the State is not densely populated but geographically isolated as there are more than 6500 villages in the State which calls for establishment of more Government healthcare, educational and other facilities.

“Even though we are a small state we face challenges because of the fact that we are very spread out and we have a population that is living in different corners. Hence that challenge requires us to ensure that apart from the infrastructures, we require more manpower to be able to provide the services that other states may be able to provide at a much easier level or with a much lesser number,” he said.

The Chief Minister also added that the Government, in order to address the shortage of manpower in healthcare facilities, has taken the initiative to recruit more trained personnel.