Healthcare lockdown in Tulail | Villagers’ video appeal spurs officials into action

Bandipora, Jan 16: The villagers of Buglinder, Tulail of Gurez Valley in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district were left without medical care for weeks when the staff at the local health centre did not show up.

The patients who came to seek help for minor ailments had to return home without treatment from the government-appointed health workers.

Abdul Qayoom, a local, said that the health centre had four staff members – a pharmacist, a nursing orderly, a female health worker, and a sweeper.

“None of them reported for duty for more than two weeks, leaving the villagers deeply anguished,” Qayoom said.

A few days ago, elders from the village gathered near the locked facility and decided to record a video of their plight.

Two elderly villagers, Abdul Raheem and Javid Ahmad, who appeared in the video, expressed frustration at the staff’s absence.

“This is the situation here at Buglinder Health Centre. Everything is locked and the staff has fled,” Raheem said. “Ten patients returned home in the morning. I have two patients in the house and nobody is available even to administer an injection. It is creating a lot of inconvenience for us.”

He said that the local administration including the Deputy Commissioner (DC), the Block Medical Officer (BMO), and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate would be held responsible if anything untoward happened to them and urged the authorities to send the staff back to the health centre.

Qayoom said the villagers made the video to get the attention of the authorities and the technique worked.

“The staff was made available the next day the video was circulated on social media. Since then the centre has been functioning,” he said.

However, Qayoom said that the nearby village of Hussangam, which falls in the same constituency, lacked a female health worker, which was creating problems for pregnant women.

Block Medical Officer of Gurez, Dr Tahira told Greater Kashmir that she had made alternative arrangements and the centre was made functional the next day.

Gurez has seven New-Type Primary Health Centres (NTPHCs), two Primary Health Centres (PHCs), a Community Health Centre (CHC), and 22 sub-centres.

However, the doctors are available at only two NTPHCs, PHCs, and CHCs while the rest of the centres are run by paramedical staff.