Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Dec 30: Shocking it may sound but it is a harsh reality that vast population of Jammu and Kashmir particularly in rural areas remains deprived of specialist doctors that too at a time when enough stress is being laid on checking adverse impact of shortage of human resource on health care delivery across the country.
The gloomy picture vis-à-vis manpower availability in the rural health care institutions in Jammu and Kashmir has been painted in the latest Rural Health Statistics, 2014. The data clearly indicates that proper planning for making available requisite manpower and other facilities in rural health care institutions has not received any serious attention from those at the helm of affairs in the Health Department.
According to the latest Rural Health Statistics, there are a total of 315 sanctioned posts of Specialist doctors for the Community Health Centres (CHCs) across the State. However, against this only 176 Specialist doctors are in place while as 139 posts are lying vacant for the past quite long time.
Similarly, against 2253 sanctioned posts of Health Workers for Sub-Centres across the State, only 520 are filled while as 1733 posts are lying vacant. Likewise, against 1250 sanctioned posts of Nursing Staff for Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres, 902 are filled and 348 are lying vacant.
As per the laid down guidelines, a Sub-Centre is established to cater 300 population in hilly areas and 500 in plain areas. Similarly, a PHC should cater 25000 population in hilly areas and 40,000 in plain areas. A Community Health Centre in hilly area caters to population of 80,000 and one lakh in plain areas.
In this way, how much population is deprived of services of specialist doctors due to 139 vacant posts in Community Health Centres in different parts of the State can be easily gauged, sources said. Likewise, what adverse impact the acute shortage of health workers and nursing staff in Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres and Sub-Centres is leaving on the people in rural areas can be easily assessed, they added.
“Due to shortage of specialist doctors in the Community Health Centres, the load of patients is continuously increasing on the already burdened District Hospitals as people are compelled to visit district headquarters to avail the services of specialist doctors, which otherwise should have been provided at their doorsteps”, sources said. Even the patients are being put to grave inconvenience of travelling huge distance to reach District Hospitals.
“The statistics clearly reveals that specialist doctors have not developed the habit of serving in rural areas and for them their own comfort is more dearer than the healthcare of people”, sources regretted, adding “even those at the helm of affairs in the Health Department, who take policy decisions, never paid any serious attention towards this gave issue, which otherwise is leaving adverse impact on healthcare delivery in rural areas”.
They said that reluctance on the part of specialist doctors to perform in rural areas cannot be considered less than playing with the lives of the people and depriving them of their fundamental right, sources said while regretting that instead of taking stern action against such delinquent doctors the policy planners in the Health Department prefer to watch the situation as mute spectator.
A senior officer of the department, on the condition of anonymity, said, “keeping in view the prevailing situation, a proposal is being worked out to take stern action against those specialist doctors, who went on prolonged leaves after their transfer from urban areas to rural areas”, adding “the proposal would be placed before the new dispensation and thereafter process of initiating action against such doctors would begin”.
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