Kendrapara: The Indupur Community Health Centre is in shambles as many posts of doctors here have not been filled. The patients are suffering a lot without treatment facilities.
If a patient comes to the CHC then he is generally referred to the District Headquarters Hospital or to the SCB Medical College at Cuttack.
People said that around 1.5 lakh villagers of 25 gram panchayats of Kendrapara and some areas of Jajpur depend on the Indupur CHC, which was set up in 1956 when Nabkrushna Choudhury was CM.
It is the oldest hospital in undivided Cuttack district. Four PHCs and around 25 sub centres depend on it for medical services.
“There are no medical facilities at the CHC now. We have to depend on the DHH in case of accidents or other medical problems, said Narayan Parida, the former Sarpanch of Ghagara GP.
“Everyday nearly 300 to 500 people come to the CHC. But the absence of specialists force the patients to go to Kendrapara or Cuttack,” said Diptimayee Ojha, a local resident.
The people here face a lot of problems due to the lack of ambulance facilities. Patients have to wait for one to two hours to get 108 and 102 free ambulance services, said Mallick, a resident of Nikirai.
The CHC has been functioning with just an Ayush doctor, a dentist and two MBBS doctors, including a doctor who came on deputation from Chandanpur recently, said Dr Srikant Kumar Swain, the Medical Officer In-charge of Indupur CHC.
The CHC does not have paediatricians, surgeons, gynaecologists and medicine specialists, said Dr Swain.
The CHC faces a shortage of paramedics too. There is also a shortage of residential quarters for doctors, Dr Swain said.
Locals said there is shortage of drinking water too at the CHC. Although there is a tube-well its water is not fit for human consumption. The CHC has a 1,000 litre overhead tank, but most of the time it is empty as the water cooler at the CHC has broken down, the villagers said.
If the Collector and CDMO of Kendrapra does not take immediate steps to solve the CHC’s problems, people would be forced to take to the streets, locals said.
“We have raised the CHC’s problems with the CDMO and Collector. They have promised to look into it,” Dr Swain said.
PNN