PHC Wadipora lacks staff, equipment, ambulance services

The residents of Wadipora and its adjacent villages in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district Sunday expressed resentment against the authorities over the lack of adequate staff and better diagnostic facilities at Primary Health Centre (PHC) Wadipora.

The residents said that the hospital was established several years ago but was never a priority for the authorities.

They said that the health centre lacks better healthcare facilities, forcing locals to look for alternatives for getting treatment. The failure of the department to provide better diagnostic facilities at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) Wadipora has also left the locals anguished. They said that a manual X-ray plant and an ECG machine were available in the hospital but they did not fulfil the purpose.

They said that the installation of a digital X-ray machine was a must so that the patients were not forced to travel to Handwara to get the X-rays done. The residents said that the hospital was functioning without the services of an ambulance telling upon the smooth functioning of the healthcare institution.

Pregnancy care has also been hit due to the non-availability of a specialised gynaecologist here as a result of which women of the area face severe hardships and are forced to visit Handwara.

Locals said that they had brought these grievances to the notice of the concerned officials numerous times but nothing concrete had been done in this regard. Block Medical Officer (BMO) Zachaldara, Dr Abdul Gani said that the entire Zachaladara Medical Block had a dearth of medical officers but two doctors had been deputed here.