Women stage protest at Sandhol

Mandi, November 20

Women of the Sandhol area under the Dharampur Assembly constituency of Mandi district staged a protest at Sandhol today demanding filling up of vacant posts of specialist doctor at the Sandhol Civil Hospital. The hospital caters to seven gram panchayats of Sandhol tehsil. Due to lack of specialist doctors at the hospital, the residents of this region were facing inconvenience as they had to go to far off places to avail better medical facilities.

Punam Thakur, a protester, said: “This hospital is without a gynaecologist, paediatrician, orthopaedic surgeon and radiologist since long. Due to lack of the gynaecologist, the expectant mothers and other women were facing huge difficulty to avail medical facilities here.”

“The X-ray and ultrasound machines set up in the hospital are lying useless because there is no radiologist available here to operate these machines,” she remarked.

“We want that all vacant posts of doctor must be filled at the earliest to ensure better medical facilities to the residents of the Sandhol area. We urge Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to look into the matter and take necessary action to resolve our issue,” she added.

BJP leader from Dharampur Rajat Thakur also supported the cause of protesting women and said the Dharampur MLA should take up this matter with the Chief Minister to resolve the matter. There is an urgent need to fill up these vacant posts at this hospital.

Mandi Chief Medical Officer Narender Bhardwaj said this matter was under the consideration of the state government. Five MBBS medical officers were available at this hospital to provide treatment to the patients, he added.