A bunch of villagers gathered contained in the constructing compound housing a Subsidiary Health Centre at Rupalheri village in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district.
| Photo Credit: Vikas Vasudeva
Inside the constructing compound housing a well-established Subsidiary Health Centre at Rupalheri village in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district, a bunch of village folks Anxiety is writ massive on the faces of individuals on the Subsidiary Health Centre (SHC), the primary level of contact for sufferers in rural areas that caters to 7,000 to 10,000 folks, at Rupalheri village in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district.
The residents of Rupalheri and half a dozen neighbouring villages are aggrieved over the only physician on the dispensary being deputed to work about six km away at an Aam Aadmi Clinic (AAC), a flagship health initiative of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) authorities.
According to villagers and docs within the State, the rural healthcare system is on the snapping point after AAP nationwide convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann opened 400 AACs on January 27. With the clinics providing round 100 lab assessments and medicines freed from price, the AAP leaders had termed it the fulfilment of the get together’s election promise to offer top-notch healthcare services to the frequent man. Last yr, within the first section of the venture, the federal government had opened 100 AACs at Seva Kendra buildings.
The civil dispensary in Phase 9, Mohali of Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district, which now homes an Aam Aadmi Clinic.
| Photo Credit:
Vikas Vasudeva
However, with the brand new AACs performing from buildings housing Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and docs being roped in from SHCs and the Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS), emergency services in rural and semi-urban areas have been severely hit.
Voters betrayed’
‘The AAP government is hell-bent on dismantling the rural healthcare system, says Karamjeet Singh, a 67-year-old retired government employee in the village. He says their local dispensary has been catering to six-seven villages since the 1970s. Now, the doctor has been deputed to work at the AAC in Nandpur village, over five km away.
“I am not against these clinics, but shifting doctors is unacceptable. If the staff from existing dispensaries are going to be shifted, then what’s the purpose of opening new clinics? It’s a betrayal of the belief of those that voted for AAP. In truth, the services supplied at AACs ought to be supplied at village dispensaries itself,” Mr. Karamjeet says.
“The government is playing with the health of villagers,” says Mahender Singh, a farmer at Rupalheri village.
Medicine scarcity
“We are facing a shortage of medicines, but have to repeatedly remind authorities about it. If free medicines are being given at ACCs, then what stops the government from extending the same facilities here?” says Rajesh Sharma, a health care provider on the SHC in Patiala district’s Malewal village.
The residents of Phase 9 (Mohali) in Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district are pleased with the brand new services on the AAC which have been arrange within the constructing that homes the civil dispensary, however query the motive behind the transfer. “If the government’s intentions were clean, it could have improved the facilities at the dispensary without changing its name to Aam Aadmi Clinic,” says Navjot Singh, who runs {an electrical} store within the space.
SHCs are being not directly closed down by handing over rural health services to nurses and Ayurveda docs, says Dr. Aslam Parvez, president of the Punjab Rural Medical Services Association. “We demand that all rural dispensaries and hospitals be handed over to the Rural Development and Panchayats Department under the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution,” he says.
‘Vacant posts’
The growth of public health services is welcome, however the workers crunch it’s inflicting is worrisome, says Dr. Akhil Sarin, president of the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association. “With doctors at PHCs posted at AACs, emergency services at the block and rural levels have been hit. Out of the 4,000 sanctioned posts of PCMS doctors in Punjab, around 1,000 are lying vacant,” he says.
Amid the rising considerations, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Director Dr. Ranjit Singh says present services at PHCs is not going to be stopped. He admits that AACs have been opened at PHCs, however says that the brand new clinics have been given separate work areas and workers. All staff corresponding to multipurpose health staff, supervisors, neighborhood health officers and dental officers will proceed to work at PHCs, he says.
