Chhatrapur: Even as the district has 537 posts of doctors, only 199 of them work while the remainder 338 are lying vacant, a report said.
According to sources, the matter has been discussed several times in meetings of Berhampur city and headquarters hospital, Chhatrapur, Bhanjanagar, Aska and Hinjilicut sub-divisional hospitals, community health centres (CHCs), Rogi Kalyan Samiti and the Zilla Parishad.
Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) has written many letters to his higher-ups in the health department about the acute shortage of staff, but in vain. This has sparked resentment among locals.
The vacancies in CDMO office are three, 39 at Berhampur city hospital, 10 at Chhatrapur hospital, 10 at Bhanjanagar hospital and 14 at Aska hospital. Likewise, where there are 3063 posts of technical and support staff, only 1725 persons are operating in Ganjam district.
Moreover, 42 posts of nurse, 10 pharmacists, 12 radiographers, 36 laboratory technicians and 116 health workers lie vacant here creating an untoward situation.
People have resented the apathetic attitude of the district administration and demanded that vacant posts be filled up immediately. Healthcare being a basic need of people, negligence on the part of local authorities will not be tolerated. People would confront the authorities in future, they said.
