Six years on, NTPHC yet to be made functional in Kulgam
Kulgam: Six years after construction work was started on the New Type Primary Health Center (NTPHC) at Chowgam area of Qazigund in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, the center is yet to be made functional, due to which patients from the village and its surrounding areas face a lot of inconvenience, locals alleged Wednesday.
They said that the construction of the New Type Primary Health Centre building at Chowgam, Qazigund was started in 2018 and it was to be completed in two years but it hasn’t been made functional yet due to unknown reasons.
“Through the construction of the building had been completed two years ago, it has not been made operational due to the careless approach of the concerned department and the district administration Kulgam,” they alleged.
They said that there is some dispute between the contractor and executing agency and as a result the people have been left to suffer.
“For even carrying out a urine test or attending to a minor ailment the villagers have no option other than to go to emergency hospital Qazigund,” said Shabir Ahmad, a local resident.
“Thousands of people of Chowgam and its surrounding area are suffering in absence of health care facilities,” he said.
Locals said that government has spent crores of rpees for the construction of this new type PHC building, but general public hasn’t got any benefit from it.
Accusing the Health department of carelessness, they said that if the building wold have been functional, they would have all the facilities here and people would not have to travel long distances even for minor treatments.
“We have brought this issue in notice of concerned authorities several times but to no avail,” they said.
They requested higher ups to look into the matter and make the health center functional.
Meanwhile, an official of the district administration said that health facility will be made functional soon.
Jahangeer Ganaie
