The health services in border areas of the district are in a bad shape. In these areas, taking a patient to a health centres is a challenge for the people. There are several villages like Med, Marwadi, Pinswad and Niwal which are deprived of health services. The villagers have to take patients to the CHC at Chamiala several km away from the district.
This area is disaster-prone. During the rainy season, the damaged roads make it difficult for the people to take patients to the nearest health centre from the village. There are around 700 people residing in Med while the figures are 1,100 and 400 for Pinswad and Niwal respectively. In these villages, the patients have to be taken either through forests or isolated foot roads. During the rainy season, the pedestrian roads and the light vehicle roads get badly damaged. The patients have to be seated on chairs and 12 km stretch has to be covered on foot to reach the motorable road.
Compounding things further, the light vehicle road remains closed most of the time during rainy season. The time patients reach the hospitals, they either die or their conditions worsens. About half a dozen people have died in a year while negotiating the transportation predicament.
There is a hospital in Budakedar about 18 km away, but it is bereft of the minimum medical services. So the villagers are forced to go to Chamiyala Beleshwar which is 40 km away from the village.
Even in Chamiyala, there is a 30-bed hospital only with over half of the doctor posts lying vacant. The hospital also faces crunch of technicians.
The X-ray machine that was installed there has been gathering dust. BJP leader Bhaskar Gairola said the villagers, distressed with elusive medical and other services are migrating and the State Government is rolling out false promises and announcements.