SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, April 11: The district health department has made at least 8 nights of duty in a month mandatory for all medical officers at Community Health Centres (CHC) and Primary Health Centres (PHC) for ensuring 24X7 health services to the patients.
In this regard, Civil Surgeon (CS) Dr Alok Viswakarma has issued a letter to the medical officers in charge of all CHCs and PHCs to implement the directive with immediate effect. The letter has been issued on the directive of the Regional Deputy Director (RDD) of Health of North Chhotanagpur Division Hazaribagh, Dr Sidharth Sanyal.
The order has come in the wake of the Saturday late night inspection by civil surgeon Dr Viswakarma at 5 CHCs where doctors were found absent from duty. The sudden inspection was made after a newly born baby had died at Topchachi CHC just after delivery due to the absence of a doctor.
When the CS made a sudden inspection of Topchachi CHC, Dr Sarvjit Singh was absent. The CS had to call Dr Alok Shyamnandan from Baghmara CHC at late night to treat the critical patients.
RDD Dr Sanyal took cognizance of it and suggested the district health department to make 8 nights of duty in a month for all doctors mandatory for ensuring 24X7 services.
“We have a total of 139 doctors in the district including 59 regular and doctors working under the National Health Mission (NHM) and District Mineral Fund Trust (MDFT). If we will deploy at least six doctors at each eight CHCs of the district, we will be able to provide 24X7 services to the people”, said Dr Viswakarma.
RDD Dr Sanyal said that he has suggested the civil surgeon Dhanbad to provide night health services on a priority basis at three CHC Nirsa, Govindpur and Topchachi based on the side of inter-state National Highway-2 so that accident victims get immediate treatment.
Dr Sanyal, who visited all the CHCs, and PCHs of Dhanbad, also directed to put up a radium sign board at the NH-2-based CHC. “People of other states while travelling on N H-2 at night do not know where the hospital is. Radium sign board would guide them in an emergency”, said RDD Health.
He said the absence of doctors from hospitals is not only at Dhanbad and other districts too face a similar crisis. During an inspection at Markachho Hospital in the Koderma district doctors were found absent at night.
