Raja Syed Rather
Ganderbal, Nov 24: The patients at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Wakoora Block of this central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district suffer due to “non-availability of staff and outdated infrastructure”.
The PHC, established in 1958, was affiliated with Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar and was one of the best-performing health centres in the district, locals said.
Many locals said, “Almost a decade ago, the health centre was attached to the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir. Since then, it witnessed downfall and people continue to face difficulties due to poor healthcare here.”
Many attendants of the patients said the PHC is facing a dearth of medical and paramedical staff while dozens of villages are dependent on it. “Though the centre has diagnostic equipment like X-ray and ultrasonography, there are no doctors and technicians,” they alleged.
The people said they have to move to either District Hospital Ganderbal or Srinagar in case of medical emergencies.
“It has been our long-pending demand to upgrade this Primary Health Centre to a Community Health Centre as it caters to a population of over one lakh; however, the authorities paid no heed to it,” they said.
The locals further said, “To extend the accommodation, the construction of a new building was executed years ago, which too has been left midway due to unknown reasons.”
The people have appealed to the Lieutenant Governor-led administration to take notice of their genuine concern and redress the issue at the earliest.
