Developed By: iNFOTYKE
TURA: Hundreds of villagers who depend on Allagre community health centre for their medical needs went on a protest march on Friday complaining about the frequent absence of doctors and medical staff who do not remain in station and commute to and fro from Tura.
Allagre medical centre has been in the news, this week, after a woman from Simkalanggre village under its medical jurisdiction was detected with the brain infection disease Japanese Encephalitis. The medical centre which is on the way to Chokpot falls inside the border of West Garo Hills district.
Peeved about frequent absenteeism by the medical staff and doctors, the villagers complained to the Garoland State Movement Committee whose unit from Ashugre together with other NGOs of the area mobilised the public into holding a protest.
Village elders as well as school students and NGO leaders marched a three km distance from Rimrangpara to Allagre health centre carrying banners criticising the missing doctors.
During the protest the public complained that the staff from Allagre CHC, including doctors, were not staying in their stations preferring to commute from Tura regularly. They alleged that the entire staff strength is seldom found in the hospital and emergencies during the night are left for the next day when the medics turn up for work.
Such a situation is very common in many rural health centres across Garo Hills where doctors and other medical staff prefer to commute from their homes in town to their work stations hampering the medical work, many a times.