Danishwar Hameed
The residents of Hallan area of South Kashmir’s Kulgam District have been neglected by authorities of basic healthcare facilities.
As per Indian Public Health Standard (IPHS) for Sub-centres, in the public sector, a Sub-health Centre (Sub-centre) is the most peripheral and first contact point between the primary health care system and the community.
While the Jammu Kashmir health department claims to provide effective health care in rural areas of the valley, the sub-health centre Hallan in South Kashmir’s Kulgam District is facing an acute shortage of staff members which has severely affected patient care.
Gulzar Ahmad, a local resident, said that the sub-centre lacked staff and facilities, forcing them to rely on market or healthcare facilities elsewhere. He told that poor healthcare facilities in the area were compelling them to rely on facilities elsewhere and pay huge fares in order to shift the patient to sub-district hospital Damhal Hanjipora, 15 km from Hallan.
“It is not possible for everyone to pay a fare of 200 to 300 Rupees. We demand that the Sub-centre should be given all basic facilities. Villagers have stopped going there for medical follow-ups with children as the centre had been put in the dilapidated house,” he said.
“We are facing immense problems because there is no proper staff available in the sub-centre. The private building seems like a cowshed rather than a sub-centre. It has unmasked tall claims of the health department,” he said.
He said that the locals demanded that if the authorities can’t shift the sub-centre building, at least they should mend it as earlier as possible.
Another resident of the village, Abdul Majeed said that the Sub-Centre is the identification of their village and therefore he demanded that the Sub-Centre be provided all the basic facilities.
“This sub-centre was started in 1982. We don’t have the basic facilities. We don’t even have a sweeper in the sub-centre as should be the case,” said Abdul.