The condition of the community health centre (CHC) in Joshimath has deteriorated much to the detriment of public in need of medical attention. There has been a general rise in number of patients arriving here in the rainy season but the facilities for conducting various medical tests remain inaccessible in locked rooms. The pathology section, X-ray machine and ultrasound examination facility are not functioning at the CHC in Joshimath which is the sole CHC in the border region of Joshimath in Chamoli district.
locals complain that the situation is going from bad to worse at the Joshimath CHC which is the only such Government health centre in the region where villagers across the Chamoli district from the Niti valley to Mana -- the last village on the Indian side of the border with Tibet-China in the district come. In absence of medical testing facility and unavailability of medicines for the patients, people arriving here from various areas have to get the necessary tests conducted at higher cost and undergo treatment in private medical diagnostic facility and hospitals. When contacted on the telephone regarding the issue, the chief medical officer Dr Viraj Shah informed that the tenure of the doctor in the ultrasound facility had come to an end. The ultrasound facility will be made available on two days in a week. The operation of the x-ray facility will become regularised once the room for x-ray machine is constructed, he added.
It is pertinent to mention here the Joshimath block is also strategically important considering the international border and is also the last major town on the national highway to Badrinath shrine. The inadequacies in the government medical treatment facility in the Joshimath region are not only causing considerable problems for the district’s residents but also result in inconvenience to visitors undertaking the pilgrimage to Badrinath or visiting tourist destinations in case they require medical treatment at nominal price.