Fazilka, April 10
Ahead of the Jalalabad legislator and the Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal’s visit on Wednesday, the residents have sought a proper health facility in the constituency.
It is learnt that in case of an emergency, the kin of the patients have to travel 33 km to Fazilka town to fetch blood from the blood bank at the Civil Hospital there, as the Jalalabad hospital does not have a blood bank of its own. It takes at least two hours to bring the required units of blood from Fazilka by covering the distance of 66 km back and forth, leaving the patients at the mercy of God till blood arrives.
Poor and pitiable health facilities in Jalalabad, the home constituency of the Deputy CM, falling in Fazilka district have been an issue for the residents of the town and surrounding areas for a long time now. The problem was highlighted vociferously after the by-election was held in the constituency about three years ago and it remained a core issue in the previous Assembly polls too.
Notably, there is a separate building for a blood bank. But the proposal for setting up the facility seems to have fallen victim to the red tape. As per the official sources, a blood store unit can be set up without any delay.
Interestingly, the official record of the health department tells a different story. The hospital in Jalalabad, which is termed as a civil hospital is in fact a community health centre (CHC). However, the boards displayed on its building and outside refer it as the Civil Hospital (see photograph). Further, the town itself has a population of over 40,000.
“If a CHC falling in the assembly constituency of the Deputy CM cannot be upgraded to the level of a civil hospital, one could imagine the plight of other hospitals in the state,” said NGO Coordination Committee’s Jalalabad president Ranjit Dahuja.
Hundreds of area residents had staged a protest under the banner of the committee on September 9, 2010, against the lack of facilities in the hospital.
Despite the sanctioned six posts at the hospital (CHC), three continue to be vacant since long. These are of orthopaedist, gynaecologist and child specialist. “In case, the CHC is upgraded to the level of a civil hospital, the facility would require about a dozen sanctioned posts, which can mitigate the sufferings of the patients here,” said the senior medical officer at the hospital, Dr Baldev Raj.
“There is a shortage of para-medical staff. Only two sweepers are burdened with the job of maintaining cleanliness in the 30-bed medical facility,” added Dr Baldev Raj.
The doctors are burdened with emergency, VIP and other additional duties as a result of which the OPD is adversely affected.
There is no facility to conduct the post-mortem examination and bodies are sent to the Civil Hospital at Fazilka for the purpose, which add to the miseries to the family members of the deceased.
“Due to the lack of facilities, serious patients are frequently referred to the Medical College at Faridkot and the civil hospitals at Ferozepur and Muktsar,” rued patrons of the Sewa Bharti, an NGO, Surinder Goyal and Rajesh Chhabra, and president Tara Chand Guglani. The NGO has been striving since long for better medical facilities in the town.
A cross-section of the residents expects that the government upgrades the CHC in the town to a 50-bed civil hospital. They hope vacant posts of doctors, para-medical staff and Class-IV employees would be filled immediately to ensure better medical facilities to the patients.
