Healthcare inadequacies fan Covid fear in Senapati village
Source: Chronicle News Service

Senapati, June 04 2021: Absenteeism of doctors, inadequate manpower and incomplete building of PHC, Khongdei worry the populace covered by the health centre.

Concerned over the situation, Khongdei Khuman village, Senapati district chairman W Ninghor and secretary Pf Themreichan have sought intervention from the authority for completing the construction work on Khongdei PHC building and posting of adequate doctors and staff during a visit by Poumai Naga frontal organisations to the village where the PHC was found not functioning properly.

Currently, Khongdei PHC is being run in a house temporarily provided by the villagers.

The medical equipment, medicines and other available amenities of the said PHC are stored and operated in one room due to unavailability of space.

Four doctors are reported to be posted at the PHC, of which two are being utilised at District Hospital, Senapati and Mao Gate.

The health centre has no other medical staff such as Ayush doctor, staff nurse, accountant/data operator, health worker, health assistant, health educator, lab technician, Grade IV, sanitary worker, etc., who are necessary for effective functioning of a PHC as per the Indian Public Health Standard guidelines.

So, Khongdei PHC is functioning with only two doctors.

The centre, it is said, covers some 10 villages with a population of 15,000 people.

According to the villagers, one major problem is the absenteeism of the doctors.

The doctors are not stationed at the PHC despite two bedrooms attached with a kitchen for the doctors arranged by the villagers.

The doctors hardly visit the PHC and the most recent visit by the doctors to the centre was recorded on April 28.It may be noted that the work order for construction of Khongdei PHC institutional building was issued in 2011.As per the work order, the construction was to be completed within six months.

However, the construction work of the building has been halted for 6-7 years now.

The villagers had reportedly filed a Public Interest Litigation before the High Court of Manipur praying for a direction to complete the Khongdei PHC institutional building.

The case was disposed of in 2019 with the direction to complete the construction work within six months' time.

However, the same was not complied with and a contempt petition has been filed recently before the court and the matter pending before the High Court of Manipur.

In this connection, the chairman and secretary of the village requested the apex civil bodies to intervene with the authorities concerned so as to ensure completion of the construction of the PHC building and deployment of adequate doctors and staff for the welfare of the people covered by the PHC.

This was informed by the village authority during a visit to the Khongdei PHC by representatives of Poumai Naga Union (PNU), Poumai Naga Women's Union (PNNM) and Poumai Naga Students' Union (PNTM).

Addressing media persons, Pf Themreichan stated that the building construction started in 2012 but it remains incomplete.

The barrack-type quarter also remains unfinished as it has been left untouched since 2013.The other building was meant for Ayush building which was built in 2010-11.Most of the pillars and side wall of the building have collapsed with only two pillars standing as there was no roofing.

The villagers had reportedly approached the officials, contractors and department concerned but to no avail.

It was learnt that several head officials of the state government had promised many times for completion of the PHC building but they have failed to deliver their assurances until now.

The villagers had reportedly published the matter in some leading state dailies but no action has been taken so far.

Other PHCs which came up after the work order that had included PHC, Khongdei was issued are now reportedly functioning well.

The three Poumai Naga frontal organisations expressed their disappointment over the abysmal condition of the state-run PHCs in the region with poor infrastructure coupled by acute shortage of manpower.

There is no power back up system to assist in times of need as these PHCs are prone to erratic power supply.

It is a horrid tale to find that the basic requirements of drinking water and sanitary provisions are below standard with no proper water supply system in the PHCs.

The populace has endured such apathy for decades.

With the second wave recording spikes in varying degrees each passing day, the effort to combat the pandemic is very challenging.

The PHCs are not well equipped or prepared to contain Covid-19 transmission.

The Covid-19 pandemic creates a special challenge with paucity of testing services, weak surveillance system and, above all, poor medical care delivery system.

There is an urgent need to increase the strength of personnel for virus testing with proper kits, efficient medical supplies, beds and other facilities.

If ignored, the threat posed by Covid-19 is looming and the potential consequences can be the worst nightmare.

If wrought by convenient negligence and unpreparedness, the initiative and policies of the state government would be a failure which would reflect a negative remark on the good governance of the state government as casualties in large number is inevitable if left unattended.

Asahrii Clement, president of the student body PNTM, stated that in response to the complaint made by the villagers under PHC Khongdei, the frontal organisations inspected the PHC and collected the present status of the working condition of the PHC.

The student leader urged the government and authority concerned to do the needful at the earliest so that people of the region also get the basic medical facilities that they are supposed to get from the PHCs.

All medicines in the PHC were found to have expired, showing the negligence of the authority concerned without realising the consequences of taking such expired drugs out of ignorance.

Later in the evening, the team visited PHC, Laii which has only one doctor, three staff nurses, one pharmacist, one lab technician, two attendants and one grade IV employee.

The frontal organisations also made an appeal for more deployment of manpower for effective functioning of the PHC which is reportedly run by NGO.

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