Adilabad: Medical officers working at PHCs in the interior areas are reportedly not staying at mandal headquarters and hence patients are allegedly not getting services in emergencies in old Adilabad district.
Many doctors who were posted at PHCs in the interior areas in the Agency are running their own private clinics in towns and district headquarters and they are not spending full time at their respective PHCs.
Recently, an Adivasi pregnant woman died due to delay in getting treatment and many such incidents and deaths are not coming to light due to various reasons. It is found that language has become a barrier in communicating with Adivasi pregnant women and patients. The Adivasis say the government should appoint Asha workers and ANMs who can speak and understand their dialect.
There is said to be a huge communication gap among pregnant women, patients, Asha workers and ANMs of their respective villages. There are strong allegations that the ANMs are not regularly visiting their villages and not giving the medicines if necessary nor shifting them to the nearest PHC.
Many pregnant women do not know their expected delivery date and many times they give an ‘approximate’ date of delivery to the medical staff due to illiteracy. These things are also posing problems to the Kolam Adivasi women. There are no housing facilities for the medical staff and doctors working in the newly created mandals and these areas are located in the interior areas. Doctors say they cannot stay with their families where they are working without basic amenities. Many doctors who completed MBBS are showing interest to work on a regular basis at PHCs so that they will get some bonus points in the post-graduation admissions.
Madavi Jangu who lost his wife Madavi Marubai, a resident of Kunikasa village, told this correspondent that his wife could have been saved if she got early treatment. He said the overflowing rivulet in their village was a major block in shifting her to Jhari PHC and there was no sufficient staff since the day was Sunday and Rakhipournami. He said Gadiguda PHC was locked by the time they reached there at around 3 pm.
Madavi Raju, a village elder (Patel), said it was unfortunate that Marubai died at a young age and added that many problems faced by villagers would get resolved with the construction of a bridge on the rivulet and improving road connectivity to their village.
He appealed to the state government to pay `10 lakh compensation to the family members of the deceased and provide a government job to her husband Madavi Jangu, who studied up to SSC so that he could continue his life.
