Mawkyrwat: The KSU has shot off a letter to Health Minister A L Hek lamenting about the shortage of doctors in South West Khasi Hills and in two PHCs, there are no doctors.
The union expressed its concern over lack of doctors in PHCs in the district especially in the time of the pandemic.
They union had also demanded the government to immediately appoint MBBS doctors in the health centres in the district with more than 1 lakh population.
There are only four doctors each in Mawkyrwat and Ranikor CHCs and one doctor each in the Mawthawpdah and Wahkaji PHCs, while the Rangthong and Khonjoy PHCs are functioning without a doctor, they pointed out in the letter.
Two PHCs in the district are functioning without a doctor during pandemic affecting the people of the area, the KSU said.
“According to the 2011 census, South West Khasi Hills has a total population of 1, 10,000 which now may have increased, but it is unfortunate that there are only a total of 10 doctors in the health centres across the district in which the doctor-citizen ration is one doctor for 12,000 people,” president of the KSU South West Khasi Hills, Forwardman Nongrem said.
“We have seen that the doctors and health workers in the district work very hard, but if there is an outbreak of COVID-19 in future it will be difficult for them even if they have to work 24/7 because of the shortage of doctors”, he said.
With the increase in COVID-19 cases in the state, the union feels that the government should immediately appoint doctors in the Rangthong and Khonjoy PHCs so that it will make the people of the district feel safe, Nongrem added.
He also said that the union had demanded the government to increase test kits for the Real-Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) so that more tests can be carried out in the district.
Random Test within Mawkyrwat which is the district head quarter and in nearby villages along the Indo-Bangla border should be more, he said.
The union pointed out that the use of thermal screening devices should be made available in all offices, market areas and banks because as of now it is used only in the entry-exit points of the district and in few banks and government offices.
With only one ventilator and 4 Bi Level Positive Airway Pressure (BIPAP) available in the district, it is time for the government to increase the number of COVID ICU rooms.
The KSU also demanded through the health minister that the government should speed up the work and complete the 100-bed hospital at Mawkyrwat which has been pending for more than 7 years.
“Even though South West Khasi Hills is still free from COVID-19, the government should not neglect because we never know what will happen in future,” Nongrem said, adding that the MLA, MDCs of both Mawkyrwat and Ranikor constituencies should take up these issues as it is the right time to improve health care in the district.
