UP: Three storey Madhotanda CHC reels under shortage of Doctors

Three-storeyKalinagar: The Madhotanda Community Health Centre which was built after spending crores of rupees is not functioning properly even after six years of its completion due to the alleged shortage of doctors in the facility. 

The patients are only able to access the facility of consultation and patients have to rush to Puranpur and district headquarters for serious issues. Most of the rooms are lying vacant in the three-storey building due to a shortage of doctors and facilities, reports The Amarujala. 

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The approval for setting up the CHC was given in 2014 to provide better health services to the people of the Madhotanda area. For its construction, a budget of nearly Rs 12 crore was approved under the Multi-Sectoral Development Scheme, with Construction and Design Services Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam undertaking the responsibility for the work. 

The work was completed in 2016, the PHC was shifted to a new building. The number of doctors was slated to be increased in addition to improving the facilities in the health center, which did not happen after six years. The hospital has an Ayush doctor Dr Chhatrapal and a dental doctor Khurshid Hasan who are providing counselling to the patients. There is a pharmacist Pradeep Kumar who arranges medicines for common problems including cold, cold, and fever to the patients. 

Meanwhile, the residential building for staff has not been built in the hospital, and the staff is currently making do with the empty rooms of the CHC. Employees are forced to live in two-three old houses, and the doctor in charge, dental doctor, and other class IV employees are residing in the vacant rooms of the building. 

Dr Chhatrapal, in charge of CHC Madhotanda, spoke to Amarujala, "Facilities are being provided to the patients according to the available resources in CHC. An ultrasound facility is not available yet. Correspondence has been made for the extension of facilities. There is a shortage of residential buildings. That's why the staff stays in the empty rooms of the new building."

The Medical Dialogues team had reported about the new rural health report of the centre which talked about the shortage of around 68% specialist doctors like surgeons, paediatriciansThree-storey, obstetricians and gynecologists and physicians in rural India. The percentage showed the skewed nature of healthcare services available at thousands of community healthcare centres (CHC) in rural areas. India needs around 22,000 specialist doctors for its 5,000 plus CHCs in rural areas. Against such a requirement, the total number of sanctioned posts is 13,637 of which 9,268 positions are vacant, stated the report. 

Reflecting on the report, Dileep Mavlankar, director, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar had stated, "For the government, the primary or secondary care at rural CHCs is not the priority. Also, there is hardly any push from agencies like WHO or UNICEF. But if there is a dedicated manager at the health ministry and the government is serious, then there are models to improve the CHCs." The experts thus stressed the responsibility of the government which did not invest in CHC and did not look for innovative approaches to retain specialists in the villages.