By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 12: The FKJGP Nartiang Unit on Monday has urged upon the Health department to upgrade the Nartiang PHC to a Community Health Centre (CHC) or First Referral Unit or Sub District Hospital for the best interest of the people of the area.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, president of FKJGP Nartiang unit, Bin Raliang said that the Nartiang PHC was established in the 1950s during the erstwhile United Khasi Jaintia Autonomous District Council under the Assam Government and remained as a mere state dispensary till 2001.
He further stated that at present, the PHC caters to a population of 37,295 of the 34 villages, adding that the PHC was formally inaugurated with 10 beds in October, 2001.
The PHC, he said, over the years has been providing preventive and curative care to the community with lots of limitation and the public has reposed faith in the health centre only to aspire that the existing health centre should broaden its scope in terms of service delivery and available infrastructure.
The FKJGP Nartiang unit president said that the PHC is supposed to provide primary care to the community but due to the distant location of a district hospital, the community faces difficulty in accessing specialist care.
Raliang further stated that at present, the entire Thadlaskein Block of West Jaintia Hills does not have a functioning CHC as per Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) norms.
“Nartiang PHC is equally accessible from all around. And by virtue of its strategic location should better facilities and scope of service delivery be broadened, in terms of maternal and child health and general patients, it is befitting to upgrade Nartiang PHC to higher facility for the benefit of the community at large,” he said.
He added that over the years, the public has been aspiring that the PHC be upgraded into a better facility. However, due to unknown reasons the aspirations of the public go in vain.