No doctor posted in 25 govt dispensaries in Sangrur dist

Sushil Goyal

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, May 24

Healthcare services in villages are in the doldrums with no rural medical officer (RMO) posted in 25 dispensaries (out of 68) under zila parishads in Sangrur district. Besides, in six other dispensaries, the RMOs are on long study leave.

The authorities have given additional charge to doctors of nearby rural dispensaries for two days in a week. Overall, work has been affected in almost all dispensaries as a doctor cannot pay his full attention to two dispensaries.

In Lehra and Andana blocks, the most backward areas of the district, there is no RMO in 10 rural dispensaries (five dispensaries in each block) due to which villagers have to depend upon on unqualified persons or quacks for treatment. Likewise, four dispensaries each in Malerkotla-1 block, Malerkotla-2 block and Sherpur block also do not have any RMO. The remaining nine dispensaries in Sangrur block (three dispensaries), Sunam block (two dispensaries), Dirba block (two dispensaries), Dhuri block (one dispensary) and Bhawanigarh block (one dispensary) have no exclusive RMO.

Sources said the state government had not filled posts of RMO for the past three years though about 450 posts of the RMO were lying vacant these days across the state.

There are a total of 1,186 rural dispensaries being run by zila parishads in the state. Hundreds of posts of the RMO are vacant as a large number of RMOs had joined Punjab Health Department as PCMS doctor in the last few years as there was a 60 per cent post-graduate (PG) quota for doing MD or MS for the PCMS doctors working in rural areas, they added.

State president of Rural Medical Services Association Dr Aslam Parvez, said about 800 medical officers (MOs) of Punjab Health Department had been working in rural dispensaries, so the entire 60 per cent PG quota was for them while the RMOs had not been given this benefit so far.

He said the state government should immediately grant 60 per cent PG quota to the RMOs to end its discriminatory approach against the RMOs.