Srinagar, Nov 24: Residents of Maharaj Gunj have complained that the sole Primary Health Centre of this Shahr-e-Khaas area was running short of requisite staff adding that there was also a shortage of medicines at the PHC.
 The health centre is one of the oldest in the Valley, believed to be functioning since Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule.

THE COMPLAINTS
 The residents claimed that the centre has been overburdened over the years as almost more than half the Shahr-e-Khaas is dependent on it adding that the government never took any initiative for its upgradation.
 “Areas including Maharaj Gunj, Sheikh Mohalla, Tanki Sarai, Aali Kadal, Budgeer, Rajouri Kadal, Wazpora, Jamia Masjid, Kamangarpora, Saraf Kadal, Nawa Kadal, Kawdara, Zaina Kadal, Nawab Bazar are heavily dependent on this PHC and due to this overburden, the centre continuously remains under heavy rush of patients while the staff is too little to tackle to the patient inflow,” residents of Maharaj Gunj said.

THE SHORTAGE
 “There are only five doctors working in the centre including a Zonal Medical Officer (ZMO) who is administering the centre affiars, a Gynecologist, two dentists and an ISM doctor,” said the Mohalla President, Haji Asad Ullah Mir flanked by other residents.
 “The drug supply to the centre is too short that it doesn’t meet the requirements of even the Mohalla  patients. We are compelled to get it from the open market,” they added.
 The residents also complained that even though the dental unit of the hospital was “well equipped”, no treatment other than tooth extraction was being done there.
 “Dental treatments like Restoration, Root Canal Treatment (RCT), Scaling are still a dream,” the complainants said.
 “What is the utility of doctors and costly Dental Chair when nothing except tooth extraction is being performed?” the residents argued.

KAR-E-NAJAR…?
 The locals alleged that a BAMS medico was prescribing allopathic medicines in stark contravention to his degree in Ayurveda. “How can somebody having a Unani Degree recommend English Medicines and that too costly, which a poor patient cannot afford,” a delegation of residents argued.
 The complainants said they many a time expressed anguish over the issue and sought government intervention. “But our complaints fell on deaf ears,” the locals said.

THE DEMAND
 The old City residents have demanded that the PHC be made operational 24X7 as has been recently done at the Hazratbal centre.
 The residents, however, hailed the Gynaecologist and the PHC head saying that despite heavy rush of patients, these doctors manage to perform their duties under extreme pressure.

OFFICIALS SPEAK
 The PHC head and Zonal Medical Officer, Dr Shabnum Qureshi said: “We have shortage of staff here and it needs to be fulfilled at an earliest.”
 About the issue of ISM doctor prescribing allopathic medicines, she said the issue has not come to her notice.
 “This issue has not come to my notice till date but now if people have raised it, I will definitely look into it,” the ZMO said.
 Director Health, Dr Saleem ur Rehman, however has his own take on the issue. “The Primary Health Centre requires only two doctors but still we have kept five there,” he argued.
 He, however, admitted shortage of drugs at the PHC saying: “The drug supply is short and now we are trying to make it requisitely available.”
 “I will personally look into the matter that what kind of treatment is lacking there,” he added.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Nov 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:00:00 IST