By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 17: The Opposition All India Trinamool Congress said Meghalaya’s neglected health sector was the biggest challenge they faced as lawmakers and sought the state government’s attention to a host of issues faced by the public including exorbitant hospital charges, lack of hospital beds forcing patients to sleep on the floor, withdrawal of the emergency services, lack of COVID-19 preparedness, lack of infrastructure and plight of NHM & ASHA workers.
Moving a cut motion in the Assembly on Thursday, Opposition Chief Whip and Umroi MLA, George B Lyngdoh referred to Health Minister James PK Sangma’s statement in the house of releasing salaries to ASHA workers which they denied in the media thereafter.
George said the anomaly needs to be corrected since the minister’s assertion was in contrast to the workers’ claim. He asked the government to either bring the ASHAs under the contractual system or pay basic minimum wages to them.
Lyngdoh also referred to the health minister’s statement in the Assembly that the government intends to withdraw its emergency services pertaining to medical care with special reference to 108 Services, and said that people in remote areas with no access to ambulances depend on the 108 Service which has been instrumental in saving many lives.
He also inquired about the status of the proposed AYUSH Directorate in the state which has not made any progress expect for the fact that a Director and a nodal officer have been appointed.
On the AYUSH centre at Bhoirymbong, Lyngdoh said the staff there were not being paid the minimum wages which is in violation of rules and needs to be rectified.
Participating in the cut motion, Mawsynram MLA, HM Shangpliang said priority should be given to infrastructure development in the health sector since the number of beds in various hospitals and health centres is decreasing with time while the number of patients is increasing.
He also mentioned that many a time patients are kept on the verandah due to unavailability of beds in health centres.
Shangpliang also stressed on the need to pay attention to the plight of doctors and nurses. He cited the case of a doctor who was forced to put up with a watchman due to unavailability of quarters. The MLA, however, did not elaborate further.
The AITC legislator was categorical in stating that a huge budgetary allocation is made for the health department but the CHCs and PHCs are ill-equipped.
He also referred to the growing cases of COVID-19 in countries like China and South Korea which are already under lockdown and inquiry whether the state was prepared to tackle yet another wave of the pandemic.
Shangpliang also spoke about the issue of salary rationalization and nonpayment of arrears for service delivery staff of the National Health Mission. He called out the government for discrimination in the NHM management with half of the employees getting paid well while the other half was not.
Opposition leader, Mukul Sangma admitted that the health sector is an area where as public representatives they are going to face challenge.
He lamented that medical expenses were skyrocketing and has become unaffordable for many. He cited his personal experience where on some occasions he had to speak with the hospital management since patients were facing problems due to high medical bills.
Sangma also took exception to the fact that most government doctors were referring patients to private hospitals. He stressed on the need to sensitise doctors across the state to follow procedure and avoid referring patients to private hospitals unless necessary.
Mukul also drew the attention of the House to the growing cases of road accidents and requested the Transport Minister to activate road safety committees, identify accident prone areas, set up signage and establish trauma centres to attend to accident cases.
Joining in the discussion, Mawlai MLA, PT Sawkmie highlighted the shortage of doctors in the state and urged the government to upgrade the health centres in the state.