Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 14: Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey has treated as Public Interest Litigation (PIL) a news-item published in EXCELSIOR under caption “No MBBS doctor in 15 PHCs of Udhampur, 112 posts lying vacant” and issued notice to Chief Secretary, Commissioner Secretary Heath & Medical Education Department, Directors of Health Services Kashmir/Jammu and Chief Medical Officer Udhampur.
Taking serious note of functioning of Health and Medical Education Department, Division Bench directed Advocate General, who was present in the court, to take notice on behalf of the respondents and file a status report indicating the sanctioned strength of doctors and paramedical staff in each District Hospital and Primary Health Centres of the State as also details of doctors and paramedical staff actually working and number of vacant posts.
The DB directed that Commissioner Secretary Health and Medical Education Department after ascertaining the actual position from the CMOs of all the districts of the State, shall submit the same by July 20, 2015.
According to the news-item published in EXCELSIOR, the already bed ridden health care services in Udhampur district have virtually gone on life support systems as not a single MBBS doctor is available in 15 PHCs which cover more than half area of the entire district whereas more than three lakh souls are dependent on these PHCs.
What is more astonishing is the fact that sweepers are managing sub-centres at many places and what to talk of saving precious lives, even thousands of rupees are required to be spent for postmortem of the dead body in the area without any MBBS doctor.
In PHCs of Sudhmahadev, Latti, Bandhole, Dudu, Basantgarh, Joffar, Mongri (Tikri) Mongri (Panchari), Rang, Barnara, Thial, Khoon, Landher, Panchari and Gharian, which cater to nearly half of the district, not even a single doctor is physically present against the sanctioned strength of 60.
Residents are facing problems owing to the acute shortage of MBBS doctors and other paramedical staff in the hospitals of Chenani, Panchari, Mongri, Ghordi and Ramnagar, and they have been regularly protesting but their voices have fallen on deaf ears.
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