No place big enough for Nurpur BMO, office split between Kamnala, Gangath since 2016

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, April 2

Despite being shifted from Gangath in the neighbouring Indora subdivision to Kamnala near Jassur in March 2016, the office of the Nurpur Block Medical Officer (BMO) still functions partially from the premises of the Civil Hospital, Gangath.

Barring the administrative office of the BMO at Kamnala, other departmental works are still being conducted from the far-off Civil Hospital at Gangath. The BMO office of Nurpur had been functioning from Indora’s Gangath since 1986. Before being shifted from Gangath to Nurpur, two offices of the BMO had been running from the Indora Assembly constituency in Kangra district.

Infra intended for Primary Health Centre

• Despite the fact that the building was inaugurated as a Primary Health Centre (PHC), the office of the BMO has been running from the building.
• Inquiries reveal that a resident of Kamnala village had donated land for the construction of the PHC at Jassur.
• While the building built on this land is now being used as the office of the BMO, the PHC functions from a rented building owned by the Nurpur panchayat samiti at Jassur.

As per the official information, the Chief Pharmacy Officer and the Block Health Supervisor — who prepares field reports of medical activities of all Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs) and health subcentres under the Nurpur medical block — are still working from the Gangath hospital.

The vaccination required for expectant mothers and newborn children is also still being stored at the Gangath building.

There is a demand to shift these facilities to the PHC at Nurpur. Then Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur had shifted the office premises from Gangath to the PHC building premises constructed at Jassur during the tenure of the Virbhadra Singh-led government eight years ago on March 6, 2016.

However, the office was recorded as BMO, Gangath, in official records of the state Health Department for over five and half years.

Successive state governments have failed to create infrastructure required to make the BMO office fully functional from a single building, in Kamnala.

Following public demands, the previous Jairam-led government, after giving a nod in a cabinet meeting, had issued a notification renaming the office from BMO, Gangath, to BMO, Nurpur, on August 3, 2022. The running of the BMO administrative office from Kamnala (Nurpur) and supporting offices from Gangath (Indora) has been causing a hindrance to the smooth functioning of a full-fledged BMO office in the Nurpur area.

Then local MLA Rakesh Pathania had laid the foundation stone of PHC, Jassur, at Kamnala on April 1,2012. Despite the fact that the building was inaugurated as a PHC, the office of the BMO had been running out of the building. Inquiries reveal that a resident of Kamnala village had donated land for the construction of PHC at Jassur. While the building built on this land is now being used as the office of the BMO, the PHC is functioning out of a rented building owned by the Nurpur panchayat samiti at Jassur.

Owing to technical reasons, the BMO office building is still in the name of the Jassur PHC in the official records of the state Health Department. The Nurpur BMO manages nine PHCs, 26 health subcentres, one civil hospital and one CHC.

Nurpur Block Medical Officer Dilwar Singh, while confirming shifting of the BMO office to the PHC building in Jassur, said the state health authorities were well-versed with this issue.

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