Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday offered special incentives to the doctors in Jammu and Kashmir for serving in rural areas. He also announced increase in the Central share of funds for the state under National Rural Health Mission from earlier eighty five percent to ninety percent. 

Union Health Minister said that as an extraordinary measure to improve the health services in Jammu and Kashmir, centre has decided to pay special incentives to the doctors serving in rural areas over and above the salary.

The Union Minister also announced that henceforth Jammu and Kashmir would get ninety percent central share under the flagship National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) while the state government had to contribute only ten percent of the total allocations. He said in other states of the country Central share under the scheme was only seventy five percent. 

The Union Minister was addressing a public meeting at Nowshera to mark the seventh death anniversary of former Minister and senior Congress leader Master Bali Ram. Responding to the local demands, Azad also announced a hundred bedded hospital for Nowshera to be funded by the centre.