Animal-bite patients in lurch as only doctor takes casual leave

The patients at civil dispensary Sector 19 are facing difficulty in even getting first-aid administered. The doctor posted at the dispensary is off on casual leave and will be returning on July 14. Till then, all cases of animal bites are being referred to GMSH 16.

For the last three days, only pharmacists have been attending to the patients at the dispensary. One of the staff members on grounds of anonymity informed that there had been two doctors at the clinic. One of them had retired two years ago and a replacement was never provided. The only doctor present here has been looking after the Sector 20 civil dispensary as well.

Aditya, a local resident said, "I came to the dispensary for a minor treatment. But there was no one to attended to my problems. Also, a child that had come with a severe dog bite was not being attended to. The child was referred to GMSH 16 and was informed that there is no doctor and that they cannot provide any medication without a prescription."

If a doctor goes on a casual leave, then a temporary posting of a replacement is required. Due to the sever shortage of doctors in the tricity dispensaries, the temporary posting was never carried out.

Dr B K Salwan, medical officer of health, Municipal Corporation Chandigarh said, "The dispensaries have recently been shifted to the Municipal Corporation. A request has been given to the Administration for deputing more doctors. I will look into the problems being faced in Sector 19."

One of the attendants said, "We are no authorised to give any kind of medication to the patients unless they provide us with a prescription from GMSH 16, GMCH 32 or our own dispensary. Any medication, even a paracetamol tablet or a tetanus infection may create any kind of reaction in the body. If the condition worsens in the absence of doctor, we cannot decipher the appropriate measures. The family of the patients may blame us for giving a wrong medication. For this reason, we refer the rabies patients to GMSH 16. Once the patient has received one dose successfully under the observation of an expert, we continue with the rest of the vaccinations here at the dispensary."

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