Tripping centres trigger rush to Rohru

C. SHAMSHER

ROHRU, FEBRUARY 17: On Saturday when Sneri Devi fell ill at Diudi village near Chirgaon, 30 kilometres from Rohru, there was no choice but to rush her to Rohru. The only primary health centre in Diudi lies in shambles. For years there has been no medical officer posted there.

IN the absence of basic medical facilities in this region, more then 500 patients from different villages in Rohru have flocked to the Civil Hospital, Rohru. But even here only nine doctors are stationed against a sanctioned strength of 18 and only one laboratory technician against four.

In a region, where a slight fever could mean a plague, the absence of basic facilities at primary health centres has meant a lot of work for this short-staffed hospital.

There are five possible victims of the ‘plague’ admitted here. And with all the doctors’ energies concentrated on the five, the OPD and other departments have almost come to a standstill.

Some important primary health centres are almost non-functional, such as the one in Diudi, where no medical officer has been appointed. Diudi is 45 kilometres from Rohru. A patient literally treks all the way down to Rohru for treatment.

Katla in Jubbal is again short-staffed and has no medical officer. Pujarli No. 3 too is facing the same problem with no doctor at the primary health centre as also the case with Lower Koti.

The situation here is an eerie echo of what happened in the Jubbal constituency 19 years ago. The memory of plague which hit Tangnu in 1983 still haunts the villagers. They have not been able to come to terms with the sudden death of seven people in two days.

Health minister of Himachal Pradesh J.P. Nadda accepts that medical facilities in the two constituencies are insufficient.