| Out of 31 SHCs at Kalakote, 18 sans staff | | Running from rented accomodations | | Bijay Charak
Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 3: Notwithstanding the tall claims of the central government for making available to the people the best healthcare facilities, 59 per cent of the sub-health centres (SHCs) in Kalakote block of Rajouri do not have adequate staff and are running from rented accommodations.
Sources in health department informed Early Times that 18 SHCs in Kalakote block were still running from rented buildings and most of them had no basic amenities including potable water, power supply and toilet facilities which were essential under norms.
"Out of the 31 SHCs in Kalakote block, 18 are running from one or two-room sets taken on rent by the department", sources said, alleging that more than 20 SHCs lacked water, electricity and toilet facilities.
Moreover, all the SHCs were grappled with scarcity of staff as against the requirement of 93 employees as per the IPHS (Indian Public Health Standards) guidelines, there were around 39 in Kalakote block, creating a shortage of 54 employees.
Sources said that according IPHS, a sub-health centre should have a waiting room, a labour room, a clinic room, an examination room, drinking water, power connection facility and a toilet for patients, but in violation of norms, most of the SHCs in Kalakote were running from one or two-room sets. These did not have labour rooms, sources informed.
RabiaKousar of Khawas alleged that the government had established SHCs without basic facilities. Such health centres were of no use, she added.
"If government has no funds for SHCs, it should close them down. A few days back, I visited a SHC for urine test but the health centre had no toilet facility for collecting sample due to which I had to go to the community health centre (CHC), Kalakote", she said and added that there was no use of such SHCs. Despite repeated calls, Chief Medical Officer, Rajouri, Dr Rajiv Sharma didn't respond. |
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