Jagatsinghpur: Healthcare services in the district headquarters hospital here have gone haywire with posts of 36 doctors out of 58 lying vacant, a report said.
Not only this, the hospital is also plagued by infrastructure crunch. The number of beds for indoor patients has remained 126 since the formation of the district. This has come at a time when the state government is implementing its ambitious ‘Mo Sarkar’ programme.
The district administration claims to be implementing the programme in the hospital but patients face a lot of hardships in availing healthcare services.
The hospital does not have a CT scanner, MRI or ultrasound facilities for which patients have to depend on diagnostic centres and shell out hefty sums.
The district was carved out of the undivided Cuttack district in 1993. The district headquarters hospital was then constructed with 126 beds for indoor patients. However, the number of beds still remains the same.
A minimum of 300 beds is now required to cater to the needs of the increasing number of patients visiting the hospital. This has posed serious problems for the hospital authorities as they often have to cut a sorry figure before patients due to lack of adequate beds. Left with no option, patients lie down on the floor.
Moreover, the declining strength of doctors is a cause of worry. The hospital has only 22 doctors to attend to a large number of patients instead of the sanctioned posts of 58 doctors.
The situation is more or less same in the community health centres of the district. None of the community health centres have a gynecologist except the one at Biridi.
As a result, pregnant women and other women patients crowd the district headquarters hospital.
The state government has sanctioned Rs 17 crore for construction of a mother and child health centre (MCH) in the hospital but the funds are lying unspent as the water resources department is yet to handover a land for the purpose to the hospital authorities.
Several important posts like chief district medical officer, public health officer, DHH superintendent, ADMO (family welfare), APHO are lying vacant in the district. This apart, the posts of senior specialist doctors in the departments of medicine, obstetrics and gynecology ophthalmology and anesthesiology, orthopedics, skin and tuberculosis are lying vacant in the hospital.
Posts of GDMO (general duty medical officer) and 16 LTRMO (leave training reserve medical officer) are now lying vacant. A radiologist going on a one year leave for training, a medicine specialist for three months and an ophthalmologist’s leave for a long period have pushed healthcare services to brink.
When contacted, ADMO Dr Basant Barik said the Collector has apprised the state government of the problems faced by the hospital and the vacant posts will be filled soon.
PNN
