Acute shortage of manpower hits Sootea New PHC

A CORRESPONDENT

JAMUGURIHAT: The non-availability of minimum staff at Sootea New PHC (NPHC) has hit the healthcare facilities of the people of the greater Sootea area.

The only doctor-cum-medical and health officer has been facing shortage of staff to run the PHC. One of the Grade IV employees has been absent from service for the last three years and only one Grade IV employee is currently available in the NPHC. Another Grade IV employee engaged for OPD registration superannuated from service in June. The attached pharmacist has also been transferred to another hospital.

Further, the posts of sweeper and cleaner are lying vacant since long due to which delivery cases cannot be done. Due to the absence of sweeper and cleaner, the NPHC campus has become dirty and unhygienic. Due to the COVID-19, patients queue up at OPD for registration but there is no one to give the patients a visit sheet/OPD slip. The DOTS centre is located inside the hospital premises but no pharmacist is available to provide medicines for the TB patients. The TB patients have been deprived of getting their doses in Sootea NPHC.

More importantly, the GNM and ANM staff are busy with a hectic schedule of vaccination for COVID. In this situation, the medical and health officer of Sootea New PHC has written to the department concerned, MLAs of Sootea and Biswanath, ADC (health) Biswanath, SDMO, Biswanath BPHC for immediate action citing the issues and problems of the healthcare centre. The local people of Sootea have requested the department concerned to look into the matter and take immediate action in order to provide proper healthcare facilities to people of nearly 20 villages of the greater Sootea area.

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