Kendrapara: As if 134 doctor posts out of total sanctioned 224 posts lying vacant in Kendrapara district was not enough, steps are also not being taken to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure in the district.
The slow pace of the construction work of Mother and Childcare Hospital at Samagudia on Kendrapara town outskirts indicates the district administration’s inertia. The under-construction facility is five kilometres away from Kendrapara district headquarters hospital (DHH). The construction work started in December 2018 and is still going on.
Notably, 5T Secretary VK Pandian during his visit to Kendrapara district in 2019 had directed the district administration to ensure completion of the project within four months. But it is yet to be completed.
There has also been no review of the construction work by the district administration.
“Kendrapara DHH is not big enough to cater to Obstetrics and Gynaecology department. Treatments of mothers and newborns are being carried out in an unsafe and dangerous manner. Keeping this in view, a 100-bed hospital is being constructed at Samagudia. The project was initially scheduled to take off in December 2016 and its construction period was just two years. However, its construction work started in 2018 and, meanwhile, five years have passed. It was viewed that the Mother and Child-care Hospital would go a long way in making the district health department active. But it failed drastically,” said Rashmiranjan Mohapatra, a local man.
Echoing the same, another town resident and member of Mahakalpara Youth Club Bibhuti Bhushan Rout said since the DHH fails to deliver treatment to mothers and newborns, the patients after being misled by middlemen are opting for private hospitals and nursing homes. There the patients are fleeced in the name of treatment. At the same time, incidents of death of mothers and newborn babies are being reported frequently from these private hospitals.
Citing labour unrest as the main reason for this unusual delay, Amarabara Biswal said the contractor of the Mother and Childcare Hospital has also other construction projects of the district administration in its hand. The projects are being executed through subleases. Labourers stop working for not getting their wages on time.
Social activist Soumyaranjan Biswal said Kendrapara district is not so financially developed. Demanding proper treatment, the district residents are resorting to strike and agitation. That the district administration is paying no heeds is a matter of great concern, Biswal said.
When asked, Sub-Collector Niranjan Behera said, “The work got delayed due to labourers unrest and then Covid-19 restrictions. However, the work is now going on at full speed after the contractor firm was admonished.”
Behera further claimed that he had visited the site Monday and that the construction work will soon come to an end.
PNN
