The Odisha Health Minister on June 20 said that the state government has decided to extend the tenure of contractual doctors by two more years.

The retirement age of contractual doctors has been raised from 68 to 70 years, hesaid. "I have asked our department and the chief district medical officers (CDMOs) to make a plan for filling up the vacant posts of doctors and paramedical staff. A directive has been issued to the CDMOs for making a list of the retired doctors in their concerned districts by July 15," said Das on the sidelines of a CDMO conference.

He said special provisions are available wherein contractual doctors and paramedic staff can be assigned at the hospitals. "We have National Health Mission (NHM) funds for the purpose. Similarly, we have corpus funds for the KBK districts which the CDMOs can utilise for the purpose of appointing contractual doctors," the minister said. Earlier, the Health Minister had asked the CDMOs to prepare a 100-day roadmap for ensuring quality health services to all.