Glaring shortage of doctors and other staff members at the Community Health Center (CHC) here, which serves patients of hundreds of villages in three blocks such as Raighar, Jharigam, and Chandahandi, has plagued its health service.
The medical also does not have trauma and emergency care wards or even a full-fledged maternity care unit. Health department sources said the CHC receives at least 200 outpatients every day. Presently, it has three MBBS and two Ayush doctors, who cater mainly to the outpatients.
There are no gynaecologists or obstetricians at the hospital. The medical is not equipped to handle trauma cases and refers patients injured in road traffic accidents, usually either to the District Headquarters Hospital in Nabarangpur or Koraput after giving them first aid, said Bipin Hial, an advocate of Umarkote Bar and a consumer activist.
The absence of an obstetrician and gynaecologist has caused immense hardships to pregnant women. The hospital handles only normal deliveries and refers pregnant women, who need C-sections to the District Headquarters Hospital at Nabarangpur.
A Health department official said there is an urgent need to post more doctors and nurses in the medical. “At least four more MBBS doctors need to be posted. Doctors are also needed for night duty and an obstetrician, paediatric and gynaecologist should also be posted soon,” he stated.