Nurpur BMO office runs from PHC building

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, February 10

The office of Block Medical Officer (BMO), Nurpur, which was shifted from Gangath in the Indora Assembly constituency to a vacant building of the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Kamnala village, is crying for attention. This administrative office was shifted to remote Kamnala village by the previous Virbhadra Singh government on March 6, 2016, a few months before the Assembly elections. Former local MLA Rakesh Pathania had laid the foundation stone of the PHC on April 1, 2012, and the construction work was undertaken through National Health Rural Mission (NHRM) funds.

The previous government had shifted the PHC to the building of the Nurpur Panchayat Samiti at Jassur. Officially, two BMO offices are functioning in the Indora constituency. Intriguingly, Kartar Singh, a resident of Kamnala village, had donated his land for the construction of the PHC but after the construction of the building the BMO office starting functioning there.

The BMO office being run in the PHC building is still functioning from Gangath in official records, as the Health Department has not issued any notification for its location in Nurpur. All department communications are being done in the name of the BMO, Gangath.

Moreover, the neighbouring Indora, Jawali and Fatehpur Assembly constituencies have BMO offices while the Nurpur office is still functioning officially from Gangath, which is part of the Indora constituency, causing a lot of resentment among local residents.

Rajesh Sahotra, general secretary of Non-Gazetted Officers Association, Nurpur subdivision, has objected to the functioning of the BMO office from Gangath in official records. He asked the state Health Department to issue a notification in this regard. He also underlined the need to shift this office to the premises of the Nurpur Civil Hospital so that the PHC, Jassur, could be made functional in its own building.

According to Dr Neerja Gupta, BMO, Nurpur, nine PHCs and two Community Health Centres were being administered from her office.

Captions: The foundation stone of the PHC laid at the Kamnala village

Former Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur inaugurates the BMO office in the newly built PHC building at Nurpur.