Power woes hamper healthcare at CHC Sumbal

Bandipora, Oct 25: The Community Health Centre (CHC) Sumbal in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district is grappling with a serious power crisis that hampers the healthcare services for the rural population.

The hospital serves several villages in the area, but the doctors and medicos have to cope with inconsistent electricity supply through the Power Development Department’s (PDD) hotline.

The locals said that the irregular power supply has a detrimental effect on patient care.

They said that the hospital has essential equipment and dialysis machines that need uninterrupted power supply, but the hospital often faces long power cuts, leaving patients and the staff in trouble.

The locals said that the PDD has failed to ensure that the hospital gets a regular electric supply.

They said that the problem had elevated with the ongoing power crisis in Kashmir.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, the President of Traders Federation Sumbal, Nazir Ahmad expressed concern and explained how the power crisis affects healthcare.

“The hospital is supposed to provide 24×7 services to the people, but due to power cuts, it is not possible. The patients who need critical support suffer a lot,” he said.

Ahmad said that the dialysis unit was almost defunct.

He said that the doctors and nurses also face difficulties in performing their duties and urged PDD to take this issue seriously and provide a regular power supply to the hospital.

Hospital insiders said that they get irregular power supply which affects their work and causes inconvenience to the patients.

Block Medical Officer (BMO) Hajin, DrIdrees Ahmad admitted that they were facing issues with an irregular supply of electricity.

He said that he had twice reminded the PDD to provide a regular power supply to the hospital.

“We have been given a hotline by the PDD, but we still face issues will irregular power supply,” Dr Ahmad said.

He said that they had contacted the Executive Engineer, PDD, Bandipora regarding the issue but got a lukewarm response stating that the line had developed “some fault” that they could not “fix” as it “does not come under their jurisdiction”.

Dr Ahmad said that the issue emerged after the transmission line for the hospital’s hotline was changed.

He said that if the power supply to the hospital was restored round the clock it would come as a huge relief to all.

Dr Ahmad said that they would now approach senior officials with a request to resolve their issue.

Shortage of doctors, technicians taking toll on patients

The CHC Sumbal is also facing a shortage of doctors and technicians which is taking a toll on the patients.

Locals complained about the lack of adequate staff, infrastructure, and facilities to cater to the needs of the people.

Insiders said that the hospital lacks night staff, technicians, physicians, an ophthalmologist, and a gynecologist for the night shift.

BMO Hajin, DrIdrees Ahmad accepted that the hospital was facing a dearth of staff after a few doctors retired.

He said that the night facilities for the Gynecology section were now available at the district hospital.

He said that an order to train staff for specialties had been issued and SKIMS would train them to deal with the issue of a dearth of staff.