PHC Monabal faces staff shortage
Kupwara, Jul 2: Primary Health Centre (PHC) Monabal, which caters to several remote tribal villages in Langate area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, is battling an acute staff shortage that has adversely affected the healthcare delivery in the region.
The facility serves a cluster of far-flung villages including Bandi, Lehikoot, Utroosa, Malikpora, Neizeb, Londa, and Haril; areas that often remain cut off during the winter months. Yet, PHC Monabal is currently functioning without an MBBS-qualified doctor, dental surgeon, no allopathic pharmacist, and no AYUSH/ISM pharmacist.
Adding to the crisis, the medical officer originally posted at PHC Monabal has been attached to Sub-District Hospital (SDH) Sogam, leaving the post vacant.
The Primary Health Centre (NTPHC) functioning on a 10×4 basis is similarly under-equipped, with both pharmacist positions lying vacant, and of two sanctioned Nursing Orderlies, only one is available; the other having been diverted to PHC Ashpora.
In a glaring example of administrative apathy, a dental surgeon posted at PHC Monabal in 2009 was transferred in 2016, and another dental surgeon was officially posted in his place. However, the newly transferred surgeon has never joined PHC Monabal, even after nearly a decade. Locals allege that his salary continues to be drawn from SDH Langate, despite his prolonged absence from his original place of posting.
“This is not just a case of negligence—it’s exploitation of public resources at the cost of people’s health,” said a local resident. “We are denied even basic treatment, while some officers draw salaries without setting foot here.”
Villagers are demanding that the absent dental surgeon be either compelled to join PHC Monabal or replaced immediately, and that the Medical Officer currently attached to SDH Sogam be relieved and posted back to his original place at Monabal.
Healthcare activists and civil society groups have also urged the Health Department to initiate an inquiry into the misuse of postings and salary disbursement, and to restore the essential staff at PHC Monabal and its associated centres.
As attention continues to be given to border tourism and road infrastructure in Kupwara, residents say it is time the government turn its gaze toward primary health facilities that are on the brink of collapse.
Meanwhile, newly posted Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Masrat Iqbal told Greater Kashmir that in a couple of days he will personally visit PHC Monabal to have first hand experience of the problems being faced by common people. He assured that the genuine grievances of people will be redressed timely.
