The residents of Batagund in Tral area of Pulwama district Saturday padlocked a health centre in the village to protest against alleged unavailability of doctors.
‘We locked the facility because it is doing us no good. We arrived here for treatment in the morning and there was nobody to treat us,” said a local.
Established in 1985 as allopathic dispensary, the government upgraded the facility to NTPHC in 2009, but failed to provide the requisite facilities,” the agitated locals told Greater Kashmir.
NTPHC Batagund caters to a huge population of Taki, Naner, Gulshanpora, Gaang, Seer and Kuchmullah. However, the NTPHC fails to meet the expectations of patients due to lack of staff.
The residents said that they had frequently approached the health authorities to address the problems but their efforts failed.
The local said that crores of rupees have been spent on the building but lack of doctors and para-medical staff has marred its functioning.
The villagers also alleged that the staff deployed at the facility reaches here at 12 noon due to which the patients suffer.
When contacted, chief medical officer Pulwama, Dr. Jaffer Hussain told Greater Kashmir that he would look into the matter.