The state government is willing to consider a suggestion by Pynthorumkhrah MLA AL Hek that land be set aside for doctors at NEIGRIHMS to purchase but Health Minister James PK Sangma could not help but take a dig at the BJP legislator in the process.
Hek had recently suggested that doctors from outside the state who are working in NEIGRIHMS be given the option of buying land in or around the city; the inability of doctors to buy property (due to the state’s land transfer laws) is one of the reasons that many do not want to serve in NEIGRIHMS, a central government teaching hospital.
Sangma today said that he will have to examine the pros and cons of the proposal but added that Hek should have considered this when the latter had been Health Minister.
“We are open to any kind of suggestions that come from our MLAs or leaders and we will get this examined since everything has its merits and demerits and we will have to explore which one outweighs the other and accordingly take a call,” Sangma said.
The state government had already made it possible for IAS officers serving in the state to buy land at rock bottom prices, a deeply unpopular concession when made but since largely forgotten by opposition parties and the public. Hek wondered why the same concession could not be extended to doctors.
