Kaimbwala village dispensary not in pink of health

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 12

The dispensary located in Kaimbwala village is crying for care. The building housing an AYUSH and an allopathy dispensary is in a shambles. Further, there is an acute paucity of space.

The situation is such that the homoeopathy doctor is operating from a dressing room of patients. When this correspondent entered the room of the homoeopath, a boy was getting dressing on his wounds done. Homoeopathy medicines were stacked underneath the bed where the dressing of the patient was done.

A homoeopathic pharmacist, who was giving medicine to schoolchildren, is also operating from a corridor.

“The building is in a bad shape and needs urgent maintenance. The problem of leaking taps also needs to be fixed at the earliest,” said Dr Harleen Kaur, the medical officer of the dispensary.

Despite all the difficulties, the homoeopath, Dr Sandeep Chaudhary, was making himself comfortable in his dressing room-turned-clinic.

“Yes it gets difficult at times, but we have to perform our duty anyhow,” said Harleen Kaur.

The water tank installed on the roof keeps leaking as its ballcock was stolen recently. While the residential quarters located on the rear side of the dispensary are also in a dilapidated condition.

At night the place becomes a den for tipplers as an illegal passage has been made from the dispensary which leads to a stadium in the village.

Chaman Lal, another resident of the village, complained that passage to the stadium leads towards the dispensary.

“There is a concrete road which leads towards the stadium but it is not being used. The villagers carved out a shortcut through the dispensary. As marriages and other functions also take place in the village stadium, the frequent travel of vehicles cause a lot of disturbance,” said Chaman Lal.

Shaukat Ali, a resident of the village, said wild vegetation had grown in the corridor where the dispensary was located.

The residents were of high praise for the doctors.

“Unlink other government employees who remain on furlough while being on duty, these doctors always reach the dispensary on time and barely remain absent,” said a group of men sitting near the village pond.

However, village Sarpanch Dalip Kumar was not impressed with the working of Dr Harleen. He said many a times people of the village visit the doctor for issuance of medical certificate but the latter always deny and tell the residents to visit the GMSH-16 to get the certificate.

“We had even lodged a complaint in this regard,” said Dalip.

When asked about the dilapidated condition of the dispensary, sarpanch Dalip Kumar said doctors receive surplus funds for the maintenance of the dispensary and it could be wisely spent on the maintenance.

Dr G Dewan, Director, Health Services, said: “The department concerned was informed about the status of the building and other problems being faced by doctors. The issues will be resolved soon.”