By: Peerzada Sayeed
Karnah, June 28: Massive staff crunch in Sub District Hospital Tangdhar of Kupwara district has severely hit the patient care besides burdening the existing staff.
An official of Sub District Hospital Tangdhar said that 20 posts of MBBS doctors are lying vacant in the SDH Tangdhar which is the only peripheral hospital of this land locked area.
“There is acute staff crunch in SDH Tanghdar and other health centre’s of the area. In SDH Tangdhar out of 27 sanctioned posts of MBBS doctors, only seven doctors have to cope the increasing rush of the patients from different areas of Karnah which has a population of 90000 souls,” said some locals.
They maintained that the main reason of shortage of staff at SDH Tanghdar and other health centres of the area is that the doctors who get selected on the basis of reservations are not ready to serve their own people.
“At present there are around 50 doctors who got selected on the basis of RBA, ALC, and ST categories from Karnah but they are not ready to serve in Karnah making their own people to suffer,” said the locals.
The child care at SDH Tangdhar is badly hit due to non-availability of pediatrician from past several years while there is a child population of around 30000 and as many as 80-100 institutional deliveries including caesareans are performed in SDH Tangdhar in a month on an average.
In absence of Pediatrician in SDH Tangdhar, parents are forced to treat their sick children by non-specialist doctors, as parents cannot shift their sick children during the bad weather to Kupwara, Srinagar or any hospital of valley for better treatment.
Even there is no regular Gynecologist from past several years in SDH Tangdhar.
The people have appealed the health authorities to post adequate number of doctors and paramedical staff besides a pediatrician and a gynecologist keeping in mind the geographical location and isolation of Karnah area.
When contacted BMO Tangdhar, Dr. Muhammad Yousaf said, “Of course there is shortage of doctors and paramedical staff in the hospital, against sanctioned strength of 27 MBBS doctors at present there are only seven doctors” .
“Despite shortage of doctors and paramedics in SDH Tangdhar my existing staff is leaving no stone unturned to provide good health care to the patients of this remote area” he said.
“Due to shortage of doctors our existing staff is overburdened, and face huge work load and feel over stressed. In absence of substitutes, they have to remain on their duties and treat the patients without any break for long duration,” he said citing an example of one Dr. Parvaiz Iqbal.
“In absence of any substitute Dr. Parvaiz has to do the USG, conduct the surgeries throughout the day and night without any break. He has been doing this from past 24 years and I think he is the busiest and most overburdened doctor of the state who has to remain present on his duties for 24 hours,” said the BMO.
