[Chukhu Indu ]
HAYULIANG, 18 Aug: Remote border district Anjaw has just seven allopathy doctors.
The Kalikho Pul Memorial Hospital here, which is the district hospital, is being run by a single allopathy doctor. There are three other doctors but of homoeopathy and Ayurveda.
Speaking with this reporter, Medical Superintendent Dr KK Singh, who is the lone allopathy doctor at the hospital, informed that, besides not having sufficient allopathy doctors, “there are only two homoeopathy doctors and one from the Ayurveda.”
“Another doctor from homeopathy can attend the hospital for only 20 days on alternative basis, and the remaining 10 days are allotted to visit schools under the Rashtriya Bal Suraksha Karyakram,” Dr Singh informed.
The entire district has only one specialist doctor – a paediatrician – who is the district medical officer.
The district has four CHCs and two PHCs, with only seven allopathy doctors, who are mostly engaged as programme officers.
Sotip Mepo, a college-going student who was sitting as an attendant, looking after his grandmother at the hospital, said: “We have not seen any difference ever since this district hospital was established. It is just the same way that it used to be.”
Another person, Batutso Malo, said that “there is no facility here. We still have to rely on Tezu or hospitals in Dibrugarh or Tinsukia (both in Assam) for minor accident cases since there is no X-ray machine in the district hospital.”
“We don’t have ultrasound facilities too here. Even when someone is ill with a normal issue, one has to travel kilometres away from the district,” added Malo.
When asked, Dr Singh informed that “all the facilities are there, but the district hospital lacks in human resources, trained persons to handle those equipment.”
All the equipment had been procured when the hospital was inaugurated in November 2017.
Local MLA Dasanglu Pul said that “doctors are being transferred to the hospital but nobody likes to stay here for long and seeks transfer.”
She said that she recently discussed the issue with the chief minister, “and very soon the government will look into it.”
