Due to the shortage of doctors in the mountainous districts of Uttarakhand, the primary health centres and the district hospitals are in bad shape due to which the locals are facing major hardships in trying to access proper medical care facilities.
The State Government appears to be according little importance to the need for proper medical facilities in the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand inspite of this being among the major demands of the public since the State was carved out of Uttar Pradesh over thirteen years ago. The medical facilities were in much better shape in the undivided Uttar Pradesh when the specialist doctors were appointed regularly.
Residents of the mountainous districts of Tehri, Uttarkashi, Pauri, Chamoli and Rudraprayag in the Garhwal region are bearing the brunt of this protracted problem of doctor shortage. The problem has been dragging on for years, yet the state government has done little to fill the vacant posts, leaving aside the specialist doctors. last year, seven transfer orders for doctors were served, but due to political interference, the order remained unimplemented.
The general public opinion is that the government has no specific transfer policy. It lacks the will to firm up such a policy to ensure that the doctors are posted in the inaccessible mountain areas of the state, goes the refrain. The shortage of doctors in the plains of Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts is not much. But the fact is that most of the doctors are singularly reluctant to repair to the mountainous regions.
Transfer having turned into a business is stopping things from being put in the right places, the common people said. According to Director Health Garhwal region, Dr SD Uniyal, 574 doctors' posts are vacant out of the sanctioned 903 posts in seven districts of the region. Only 329 doctors are working now.
In Pauri district, only 32 doctors are working though the number of the sanctioned posts is 133; in Haridwar, 63 doctors are rendering service while the figure for sanctioned posts stands at 134. In Dehradun, the figures are 91 out of 237, for Chamoli 23 out of 56, for Uttarkashi, 32 out of 87, for Rudraprayag 24 out of 88 and in Tehri district 64 out of 168. This shows that 63 percent of the posts are vacant. Similar is the condition regarding nurses, technicians, pharmacists and the like, it is learnt.