Vijayawada :

In a move that will gladden the hearts of women, the AP government on Saturday appointed women district medical and health officers (DM&HO) in 11 out of 13 districts in the state.

This is perhaps for the first time that so many women have been appointed DMHOs at one stroke. Health minister Kamineni Srinivas interviewed all the new contenders and the existing DMHOs before going for the sweeping change. He followed the rule book and performance of officials before finalizing the candidates for top medical jobs in districts.

Women officials will head the health department in all districts except Kadapa and Anantapur. At least six DMHOs were removed from their posts and shunted to ‘loopline’ positions. The DMHO in the minister Srinivas’s home district – Krishna — Dr Sarasijakshi too faced the axe. She was appointed principal of women training centre in Guntur.

While Guntur in-charge DMHO Nagamalleswari was brought to Krishna, Dr Padmaja Rani was given charge of crucial Guntur district. While Dr R Syamala is Srikakulam DMHO, Dr J Sarojini will take charge of Vizianagaram district.

Similarly, U Swarajya Lakshmi will take the reins of Visakhapatnam, Dr M Savitramma and Dr K Sunanda will be DMHOs of East and West Godavari districts respectively. Dr J Yasmin, working at GGH, Guntur, was posted as DMHO at Ongole in place of Dr K Chandraiah.

Chandraiah has been shifted to fever hospital as chief medical officer. Dr Bharathi Reddy has been appointed DMHO in Nellore and K Koteswari in Chittoor and B Nirmala in Kurnool.

Dr S Prabhudas (Anantapur) and Dr R Narayana Naik (Kadapa) are the only two male DMHOs in the state. DMHOs are supervisory officers of all primary health centres and they are chiefly responsible for taking health programmes of the government to the doorsteps of the poor.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad / TNN / November 23rd, 2014