The doctors deployed on the Char Dham Yatra route are sitting idle these days as very few Yatris are venturing into the Yatra, while patients in all Government-run hospitals keep waiting for hours on end in long queues to get themselves treated.
The stark fact is that the Char Dham Yatra is taking its toll on the medical health department of Uttarakhand. The department which is already plagued by severe shortage of doctors has to provide medical facility on the Yatra route.
Interestingly, the department sticks to the same staffing pattern on the Yatra route both during the peak season (summers) and lean season (rainy season). The yatra this year started in the first week of May and would continue till last week of October. The Yatra is a subdued affair this time with the number of tourists dropping to almost 70 per cent.
The last year's disaster seems to have dampened their enthusiasm for the perilous pilgrimage. However, this dip in the number of tourists has not relieved the health department a bit as far as providing medical facilities on yatra route to the detriment of the medical service at the state-run facilities is concerned.
When contacted by The Pioneer, the Director General (DG) of Medical Health department, Dr GS Joshi acknowledged that the doctors deployed for the Char Dham Yatris are telling upon the normal medical services. "The department keeps grappling for long with the shortage of doctors and Yatra duties mean further depletion of the number of the on-duty doctors at the places of their original postings," he said, adding that he has taken up the issue with the health minister.
The Medical health department has deployed eight specialist doctors and 12 senior medical officers to cater to medical requirements of the yatris this year.
The department has set up Medical Relief Posts at Sonprayag, Munkutia, Tolapani, Chaudi, Junglechatti, Bhimbali, Rambada, Chotti lincholi, lincholi, Kainchi, Rudra point and Kedarnath on the bridle path of Kedarnath route. The department has medical check- up facilities for Kedarnath yatris at Guptkashi, Phata, Sonprayag and District Hospital of Rudraprayag. Besides, 11 ambulances are kept on Kedarnath yatra route.
For the yatris, there is a 108 Advance life Support Ambulance at Sonprayag and 19 ambulances on Badrinath route and 15 on Gangotri and Yamnotri routes. For the yatris, the department has set up two medical camps on Yamnotri and one on Gangotri route.
One of the senior officers of medical health department said that the government should ask the Centre to provide medical facilities on the Yatra route and the department should be more innovative in deploying the medical officers. He said that during the rainy season when very few people visit the Char Dham some doctors can be taken off the yatra circuit to give some respite to the people who need their services badly.
Medical services in the state are severely hamstrung by 1482 posts of medical officers and specialist doctors lying vacant. The people from the remote and mountainous areas are worst affected by the shortage of doctors as medical facilities are virtually non- existent there. They are thus forced to take their relatives who are taken ill to cities like Haridwar and Dehradun.