MAWKYRWAT, May 23: Wahkaji Primary Health Centre (PHC), located 40 kilometres from Mawkyrwat in South West Khasi Hills, is fighting the pandemic on an entirely different level as it functions with only just one doctor and without a single ambulance.
Catering to the needs of as many as 30 villages in the area, Wahkaji PHC was inaugurated in 2017 but is operational with a number of drawbacks; the facility has five beds and only one oxygen cylinder. Apart from this, the transformer installed at the compound of the PHC is reportedly unable to support the needs of the staffs 24 hours.
Leaders of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) South West Khasi Hills District and KSU Umdohlun Circle carried out an inspection of the PHC last week, following which these revelations were made.
The unions castigated authorities for the ‘step-motherly’ treatment of locals in Wahkaji, especially as the pandemic rages in the state.
The unions informed that according to the officials at the Health department in Mawkyrwat, the government had already appointed another doctor at the PHC, but has not assumed office till date. To this, the union leaders urged the concerned doctor to attend to work for the well being of the local populace in Wahkaji.
They also called upon the state government to provide an ambulance to the PHC, a new and better transformer, increase the number of oxygen cylinders besides augmenting the PHC with other facilities.
The organisations also sought the intervention of the local MLA into the issue.
