Community health centre at Hisar village remains closed for 10 days

With stagnant water raising the risk of vector-borne diseases in flood-affected areas, the community health centre (CHC) at Arya Nagar village has remained closed for over 10 days. The staff has been temporarily shifted to a village dharamshala, but most facilities there remain non-functional and only a few staff members are present, a visit by The Tribune revealed today.

Health officials acknowledged that the prolonged waterlogging was posing a threat of dengue, malaria and other vector-borne diseases. Though only negligible cases have been reported so far, the rot and stink caused by the standing water is posing a serious threat of outbreak of the diseases, admit the health officials.

The Arya Nagar CHC, which has a medical and para-medical staff of about 70, has been shifted to the Kumhar Dharamshala as the CHC is flooded with nearly three to four feet of water on the entire campus. The local residents said that even the staff residing in the adjoining staff quarters had to shift the residences due to heavy inundation in the entire area.

Balwant Singh, a local resident, said that the entire locality had been submerged and they had been facing difficulties in venturing out of the houses to purchase the essential commodities, besides the non-potable water they were getting due to heavy flooding in the entire area. “The residents even fear electrocution in case some accident occurs and say they have to be very cautious in using the electricity devices,” he said.

Singh said that though waterlogging had become an annual feature for the last nearly four years, but this time it was worst. “We never witnessed such difficult conditions due to flooding. The main road from Hisar to Balsamand is also flooded in about 1 km of patch just ahead of the village. The residents are facing tough times for many days. We had complained to Haryana minister Ranbir Gangwa and also Nalwa MLA Randhir Panihar, but were still waiting for a solution,” he stated.

Another woman Kamla Devi rued the fact that the entire locality known as BPL Colony on the outskirts of the village remained inundated for many days. “We have to wade through the water to come out of our homes whenever we need something from the local market. The standing water has now turned into a breeding ground for mosquitoes,” she said.

A medical officer in the CHC operating from Kumhar Dharamshala said that they had a staff of about 70, but almost half had been deputed at other health centres as the CHC premises were flooded and they were operating from the dharamshala. “We have been referring patients to the civil hospital as the test facilities are not available here as of now,” he said, adding that of the seven medical officers, he was the only one on duty at the time The Tribune visited them.

The medical officer maintained that there was obviously a risk of vector-borne diseases due to the flood and the Health Department had been taking measures to contain the spread of any kind of disease.