- The town of 0.4million people has only one health centre
It is quite astonishing that health sector never remained in the priority list of any governments as it could be judged from the pathetic condition of the Rural Health Centre (RHC) of Bhara Kahu, where poor patients pass through great hardship because of insufficient staff and non-availability of medicines in the facility.
The town of 0.4million people has only one health centre, which, too, is in shambles, as there is a lack of basic medical facilities
Sources in the hospital told Pakistan Today that during the previous government of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the then administration made efforts to upgrade and provide all facilities to the RHC, but the incumbent government reversed the whole process.
They said that ten PIMS doctors were visiting the facility during the previous government due to which problems of the dwellers were reduced remarkably; however, later, the facility had been withdrawn and now there are only two doctors — male and female.
Similarly, the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) is one of the most founded programs globally, but unfortunately, the employees are paid too little in Pakistan due to which most of the competent people are leaving the jobs, sources added.
They lamented that service structure has been implemented across the country, including PIMS and Polyclinic, but not by Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
There had been two EPI technicians for eight years in the RHC; but the government instead of increasing the staff, ironically, reduced the strength to one who comes from Rawalpindi and vaccinated over 300 children on daily basis, they maintained.
The RHC was supposed to cater to the need of 50,000 people, but at present, the locality is touching a figure of 0.4m. It is impossible to meet the growing need with such limited resources which add to the miseries of the people, they added.
A senior staffer told this scribe that the then prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani announced Rs10 million for the centre, but the present government has halted the promised fund for the facility.
“There were three gynae doctors in the RHC, who were working in three shifts, but now there is only one lady doctor,” he added.
He said that the authority’s seriousness could be judged from the fact that an ambulance parked in the facility has been damaged for four years but could not be repaired.
M Shafiq, a resident, said that the inhabitants of the area were facing great problems because the centre has no facility to offer to the patients that is why patients opted to go to the PIMS or the Poly Clinic.
The staffer on condition of anonymity told this scribe that there is a severe dearth of doctors so how all the patients could be checked with such limited manpower, as no specialist doctor is ready to come here.
He said that the medicine was available in the centre but not sufficient to meeting the growing need, adding that the government should increase its health budget to address the problem.
Despite repeated phone calls and text messages, Deputy Commissioner Capt (r) Mushtaq Ahmed could not be reached for his comments on the issue.