Waseem Ahmad
Baramulla, Mar 16: Lack of basic health care facilities hampers the patient care at Government Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Sheeri area of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district and forces people to cover long distances for treatment.
The patients alleged that the PHC lacks basic facilities including medicines and they have to buy it from the market. “We have to buy medicines from the market as the medicine is not available in the hospital,” Zahoora Jan, a patient, said.
She lamented the hospital lacks other facilities including heating system, availability of doctors, theatre facilities, cleanliness and space. “There is no heating system in the hospital, sometimes they use gas heaters but most of the time they are removed. We have to face lot of problems at night as one can hardly find any doctor in the hospital and we are asked to buy medicines from outside,” she said.
Attendants rued that there is a dearth of cleanliness in the hospital and only two shabby toilets are functional. “There are only two toilets in the hospital which are in pathetic condition and the rooms are not cleaned properly,” Maimoona said, adding some of the rooms have been turned into stores wherein unnecessary stock of things are kept.
An employee of the hospital, wishing anonymity said that an operation theatre was made in the hospital for about Rs 20 lakhs and it is used as a store of the hospital.
“Frequent accidents often happen on this highway and the injured are brought in this hospital for the treatment. The operation theatre if equipped would save many lives but it is not used at all,” he said. Adding: “One can only see pigeons and dead stock of the hospital in the theatre.”
Dr. Sheikh Farooq, Block Medical Officer, Sheeri while admitting lack of facilities in the hospital said that the PHC needs to be upgraded. “There is dearth of doctors in the entire block and we are doing our best to upgrade the PHC Sheeri as it caters to various villages of the area. The allegations about heating and cleanliness are baseless,” he said.
He said in the PHC, only one doctor is available and a female gynecologist has been roped in from the field.
Asked about the condition of operation theatre in the hospital, he said the theatre was made long ago and it is not well equipped. “The theatre is very old and there are no equipments available. Normally, no theatre facilities are available in the PHCs but I have suggested authorities that an emergency room should be in the hospital,” he said.
About medicines, he said the hospital has enough drugs available. “There is no shortage of medicines in the hospital. Besides, we are planning to provide accommodation for chemists so that patients would get medicines at night as well,” he said. Adding: “We are working on various issues and they will be sorted out soon. It will take time to improve the healthcare in the hospital”.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
