With only one doctor to cater 80,000 people; people going to Chickbevanur PHC do not get timely treatment.
Bengaluru, April 09, 2019: Chickbevanur Primary Health Centre is also not able to give treatment to its patients daily. Many patients complain that doctors ask them to come on the next day for an appointment.
“I am suffering from cough for the last two weeks. I came here yesterday for treatment but the doctor did not see me and asked to come the next day as there were many patients already waiting for their turn. The doctor said that he will be able to finish already present patients by 5 pm and will see the rest, the next day. The taluka hospital is also twenty kilometres from our village, which makes us dependant on this PHC”, Hussain, a patient at Chickbevanur PHC said.
The PHC caters to 80,000 people of 17 nearby villages making it difficult for doctors to cover all patients every day. The doctors, every day 100- 150 patients go untreated due to lack of doctors.
“This is the biggest Primary Health Centre of Karnataka catering approximately 80,000 people. I am the only doctor working here along with four laboratories and two Group D staff. Every day 500-600 patients come for treatment here. I start at 9 am in the morning and work till 5 pm. This PHC does not operate for twenty-four hours for all seven days. We work beyond our limits but still, around 100 patients go untreated every day as there is no other doctor. I have suggested to the Taluka Hospital Officer and other senior officials in the past to increase the number of doctors in the PHC and make it 24*7 PHC, but no action has been taken yet”, Dr. Suresh G, Chickbevanur PHC said.
National Health Mission guidelines say that a PHC should cover a population of 30,000 people. And if there are more people to treat, either a Community Health Centre or more PHCs should be constructed.
“We have been receiving complaints from people for the insufficient number of doctors and a lot of rush in the PHC for many years. We have already demanded for more doctors and try to convert it into a CHC in the past but there are land issues in this area. Villagers do not want to donate land for new PHC. Two years back, an amount of Rs. 10 lakh came but it was returned due to unavailability of the land,” Mrs. Kalpana Kulkarni, Taluka Health Officer, Indi Taluka Hospital said.
However, five Gram Panchayats covering these 17 villages, which were hesitant to give their lands, have decided to give land now.
“We were initially demanding three separate PHCs for seventeen villages. But the government only gave funds for one PHC considering the small population of the villages. Due to this, we did not accept their proposal earlier and refused land. But now, they have promised us two PHCs and one CHC within two years. So, we have decided to give land to them now. Most probably, after a few formalities, the work will begin in July this year,” Mr. Vinod Pawar, Gram Panchayat Head, Salotgi Village said.
With promises on the cards from many people for many years, people of Indi taluka still have a small hope to get on time medical facilities soon.”
