bhubaneswar as many as 358 allopathic medical officers and 116 homeopathic medical officers have joined the state government it will strengthen the healthcare system at the grassroots level of the state an orientation programme was organised for the new recruits here on fridayon the recommendation of the odisha public service commission opsc 358 have been appointed as allopathic medical officers in the rank of groupa junior branch of odisha medical and health services cadre under the health and family welfare departmentthey shall be on probation for a period of two years from the date of joining the post chief minister naveen patnaik congratulated the newly joined medical officers and addressed them on a virtual platform he called upon them to make their profession a mission for sustha odisha sukhi odisha he hoped that appointment of these doctors will make the healthcare system more robust and effective it will also contribute to improving the satisfaction of the people who visit the government facilities our government is committed to provide universal access to quality healthcare services and bring down the outofpocket expenses of the people he addednaveen said the size of the budget of the health department is increasing the budget size has in fact doubled in the last three years he added besides the medical officers 36 homoeopathic lecturers also joined the state government on fridayamong others health minister naba das chief secretary suresh chandra mohapatra secretary to cm 5t vk pandian health secretary nikunja dhal spoke in the orientation programme they highlighted the steps taken for improvement of health infrastructure in the state