Nurpur residents oppose transfer of two specialist doctors from Civil Hospital

Residents and outgoing elected representatives of panchayati raj institutions surrounding Nurpur town have opposed the sudden transfer of a physician and a gynaecologist from the Nurpur Civil Hospital to the Civil Hospitals at Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur district and Jaisinghpur in Kangra district, respectively. The 200-bed notified civil hospital is without a paediatrician and a radiologist for the past over 22 months. The state government has failed to fill these posts of specialists despite persistent public demand.

However, the state Health and Family Welfare Department had tried twice to fill the posts of a paediatrician and a radiologist in the Nurpur Civil Hospital in April and November last year but none of them joined duty here. The sudden shifting of physician Dr Ashish, who was prescribing medicines to about 130 to 150 patients in the Out Patient Department (OPD) every day and while gynaecologist Dr Pankaj, who was posted here two years ago, was also issuing prescriptions to an equal number of patients every day.

Their transfers have triggered a lot of resentment among local residents. Social organisations have appealed to the state government to annul their transfer orders keeping in view larger public interest. Pawan Kumar, Meenu Rani, Sharvan Kumar, Vijay Kumar and Reenu Devi, outgoing pradhans of Sadwan, Kopra, Lagor, Hadal and Ondh gram panchayats, respectively, and Ashok Kumar, outgoing president of the Nurpur Municipal Council, have appealed to the state government to fill the vacant posts of specialists and cancel the transfer orders of the physician and the gynaecologist. “These specialists are dedicated health care professionals and patients visiting their OPDs are satisfied with their general behaviour and prescriptions,” they claimed.