KV Correspondent

Peripheral health care is ‘unwell’: JKDCC

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Srinagar: Stating that the peripheral health in Kashmir is in shambles, and ‘about to burst,’ Jammu and Kashmir Doctors Coordination Committee (JKDCC) the amalgamation of various doctors associations in Kashmir, Monday said that around 2000 doctors have been posted at Government Medical College and associated hospital, where their services are not even required.

“The posting of such a huge number of medicos is burdening the central system, while it is equally depriving peripheries of the required man power,” Dr Muneeb Mushtaq, spokesperson, JKDCC said.

“All the posts are lying with Directorate of Health Services that has posted them at GMC and associated hospital, when there services were most needed in the peripheries,” Dr Muneeb Mushtaq added.

“The peripheral health care system is in shambles and is suffering due to the callous approach of the authorities,” he said.

While calling for decentralization of health care system in the state, JKDCC said that instead of posting one specialist here and one there the authorities should pool the required number of specialists and post them at a particular district, giving rise to speciality hospital.

“In such a scenario patients will not be required to be shifted to Srinagar,” he said.

Dr Muneeb said that the non-availability of specialists is the main reason behind the deaths that take place while referring the patients from district hospitals to Srinagar.

“The golden hour in any emergency is lost while referring the patient to Srinagar, thus there are deaths,” said DAK President, Dr Suhail Naik.

Linking the infant deaths that were reported during 2012 at GB Panth, the doctor’s body said the majority of the deaths took place during the referrals, where again golden moments were lost during the transit.

 “Instead of  decentralizing, the authorities have made the health care system city based, where everything is piled up in the city, while as the rural areas suffer,” said Dr. Suhail Naik.

“In 2010 the hospitals in peripheries received 68 lakh patients, which swelled up to 134 lakh during 2016-17, however the number of doctors is still the same what it was in 2010,” the spokesman JKDCC said while quoting figures which they claimed were compiled by them.

“The numbers have swelled up, but there is no heed paid to the man power that is required to tackle with the swelled up numbers, ” he said, adding that the previous recruitment was done in 2010 and from then on there was no addition to the number of medicos.

While accepting that doctors avoid postings to far flung area, Dr Suhail Naik said that it is a fact because doctors who are posted in city are getting more benefits than that of those who are posted in rural areas.

“Those who were to be posted to rural areas, logically should be getting enough benefits, but whenever, a doctor is posted to a rural area, there is a sudden cut of 10000 rupees in the salary,” he  said.

“This is totally opposite to what the doctors posted in the city get. They get an additional hike of rupees 10000 in their salaries,” he said.

 


KV Correspondent

Kashmir Correspondent cover all daily updates for the newspaper

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