Due to the continuing crunch of doctors in the the mountainous district of Uttarakhand, the primary health centres and district hospitals have remained in dire straits and the common people who have no alternative but to throng around the State-run facilities for medical treatment are the worst-affected.
The refrain runs among the people residing along the remote areas of the hilly terrains of the State that the Uttarakhand Government cannot care less as far as the medical facilities for the people are concerned. The Government has neither a specific transfer policy nor does it have the will to implement the norms regarding this crucial matter now existing in the government statutes, one of the aggrieved people said. This is the reason why the doctors are shunning the hospitals in the hills and the Government cannot do anything to coerce them into repairing up the hills. “They, both males and females, want to stay put in the cities of Dehradun, Hardwar and Udham Singh Nagar where there is no shortage of doctors as such. The Government’s role is queer. It is adept in pontification, but when it comes to the ground reality, it chooses to fawn on such doctors,” said a resident of Pauri.
Pauri is the biggest district in the State, but the condition of the hospitals and PAC are the worst due to the shortage of doctors. The situation is such that the concerned medical officers are almost single-handedly running the State-run health centres in these geographically inaccessible regions. As things stand now, only 34 doctors out of the 153 sanctioned posts are working in the district under the CMO. This means that as many as 119 posts for doctors are lying vacant. Only four specialist doctors are now working while the number of sanctioned posts is 36.
The picture of discrimination would become clear if we consider the fact that while the condition of the district men and women hospitals of Pauri is pathetic the Joint hospital in Kotdwar that is the home town of the Health Minister, is running far better. In Kotdwar Joint hospital, 16 doctors are working out of the 20 sanctioned posts. It is also amazing that while two pathologists are rendering service in Kotdwar the district hospital has remained devoid of any pathologist.
Chief medical superintendent district hospital Pauri KK Pant said that only eight doctors are working and nine posts are still vacant, while in district women hospital Pauri, two doctors are working out of the nine sanctioned posts. One post each of radiologist, pathologist, physician, ENT, cardiologist, eye surgeon, skin, JDMO and two posts of the EMO , child specialist are vacant, he added.
When the people came out on the roads in support of the stir launched under Jan Chetna Manch and supported by Nagrik Sangarsh Samiti, two doctors Joined the service- one child officer and one eye surgeon in Pauri district hospital.
The need of a radiologist and a technician to start the CT scan machine in district hospital is being felt for a long time. Yet, things are being allowed to hang fire with the Government singularly lacking the will to put things right. The CT scan machine was installed on 17 June 2013, with a cost of Rs one crore 89 lakhs 59 thousands. The apathy of the Government is proving to be an anathema for us all, the unprivileged people living in difficult terrains, said a senior resident from Pauri.