Kasmir Monitor: Srinagar: Friday, June 16, 2017.
Doctors and
senior medical officers posted at Budgam’s Khag area have not been for the last
many years, hitting patient-care at the health centres.
A Right to
Information (RTI) application, a copy of which is with The Kashmir Monitor,
filed by one Nazir Ahmad Lone, a resident of Shunglipora Khag, has revealed
that the Medical Officer (MO) at Primary Health Centre (PHC) Khag has been
posted there for the last 17 years.
The Medical
Officer at PHC Poshkar has also been posted at the health centre for the same
period, the RTI has revealed.
While the
Dental Surgeon at PHC Poshkar, as per the RTI, has not been transferred for the
last six years, the Junior Grade Nurse at PHC Khag has been staying there for
the last 17 years.
Several
lower-rung employees at the health centres also have not been transferred for
the last many years, the RTI revealed.
The stay hits
the healthcare as well as promotes corruption, people allege.
“The doctors
have a tie-up with private pharmaceutical companies. They prescribe medicines
of the particular company only,” Nazir said.
“More than
the treatment of the patients, the doctors have indulged in business with the
drug companies. Such medicines are not effective and put the patients at risk.”
He said that
the higher authorities in the health department in the district were sleeping
over the issue.
“The doctors
have turned the health centres into business hubs, but the authorities do not
find it necessary to transfer them. It is a pity that a doctor is not
transferred for nearly two decades,” he said.
Admitting the
extended stay of doctors and paramedical staff at the health centres, the Chief
Medical Officer (CMO) Budgam, Dr G M Dar, told The Kashmir Monitor that he
would look into the matter.
“The issue
has come to my notice earlier. In fact we have submitted a detailed report regarding
the matter to the Director Health Services Kashmir (DHSK) two months ago.
Hopefully, there will be a breakthrough in the matter soon. Doctors or
paramedics who have been continuously staying at one place, would be
transferred,” Dar said.
Dar admitted
that there were some “chronic cases” wherein the doctors have not been
transferred for years.
“Once there
is an approval from the DHSK, I will act instantly,” he said.
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