Ganderbal: The Primary Health Centre’ (PHC) Kullan in Kangan area of Ganderbal district has been awaiting completion of its building for the last 11 years while the locals are facing difficulties for want of inadequate health facilities in the village.
Though the work on the new building of PHC Kullan was started in 2011, the work on the building had been abandoned by the concerned agency and is still incomplete.
At present, the hospital is operating from an old building with inadequate accommodation and infrastructure. Locals said that the old building is congested due to which both staff and patients are facing hardships.
The PHC is located on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway, which sees huge OPD cases of accidents and other emergency cases for immediate medical facilities.
Locals said that the new hospital building was under construction for the past decade and had now almost been abandoned by the concerned agency.
“Despite repeated pleas and requests, the authorities have failed to restart and complete the construction work of the new PHC Kullan building, which speaks volumes about the claims of the government regarding improving the healthcare in rural areas,” said Shabir Ahmad, a local.
Locals said that more than 30,000 people from adjoining villages were dependent on this facility, but they had to take their patients either to SDH Kangan or to some hospital in Srinagar for want of the healthcare facility.
According to the locals, the construction work on this health centre was started in the year 2011 and the construction agency was Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board.
The centre would have catered to the healthcare needs of locals from far-flung areas of Kullan, Rayil, Rezan, Gohipura, and Gagangeer areas.
“We are facing serious problems due to non-completion of this project. In winter, it becomes even more difficult to ferry the patients to other places,” they said.
A member of the Civil Society Tehsil Gund (CSTG) told Greater Kashmir that the completion of the hospital building would have provided a huge relief to people in the area.
He said that they demand that the work on the hospital building at Kullan should resume without any further delay and urge the Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal to look into the matter.
The long-delayed project, estimated to cost Rs 2.50 crore, is under the supervision of the Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board.
“Although assurances were made last year by a senior health official that the work had been allocated to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and the Road and Buildings (R&B) Department, there has been no observable progress to date,” official sources said.
Meanwhile, an official told Greater Kashmir that the matter has been taken up with the higher authorities by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Ganderbal and efforts are to ensure to restart the work on the hospital building so that it is completed.
“CMO Ganderbal has taken up the matter with the Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal and higher authorities in the department and it is expected that the work will be prioritised so that the hospital building which has been left midway is completed and the people of the area don't face any inconvenience in getting better medical facilities. Chief Medical officer Ganderbal couldn't be contacted for her comments,” the official said.
