Bhubaneswar, Aug. 12: Another case of dengue death was today reported from the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, while swine flu has already claimed nine lives in the state this year.
When the state is facing multiple health issues, a Bhubaneswar-based organisation, the Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD), has conducted a survey on the issue and challenges of primary heath care facilities in the two most backward districts – Kalahanadi and Balangir. The survey reveals how people are still not getting basic health services, including ambulance services.
The study was conducted in Balangir and Patnagarth constituencies of Balangir district and Narla and Junagarh constituencies of Kalahanadi district. The infamous Daana Majhi case that was reported last year, where Daana had to carry the body of his wife for nearly 12 kilometres after being unable to get the ambulance, was reported from Kalahandi district. In these four constituencies, a total of 37 primary health care centres have been selected by the organisation. The study covered primary health care centre, sub centres, villages and communities in these areas.
The expert team interviews 50 per cent of out patient department (OPD) patients visiting each PHC. The patients were selected on the basis of convenience and snowball sampling method. They were asked to share their satisfaction levels and experience at the primary health care centres. Total 370 patients (10 patients from each primary health care centres) were covered. Besides, the grassroots services providers – Accredited Social health Activists (Asha), auxiliary nurse midwives and anganwadi workers were interviewed on implementation of various government schemes.
They find unavailability of buildings as a major problem in imparting health care service to the patients. In absence of adequate and habitable staff quarters, it won’t be possible to put a check on doctor absenteeism and 24X7 primary health care centres won’t function smoothly. The primary health care centres need to be converted into 24X7 centres with in-patient department facilities.
Provision of safe drinking water and power back up (important in case of power failure during emergencies) are also major issues at the primary health care centres. The unavailability of diagnostic services and referral transport is causing a lot of difficulties for the people. While in some instances people are bound to pay higher prices in getting their medical condition resolved, in other cases, many are often showing lack of interest due to lack of money (thus, turning again to traditional healing methods or quacks).
The service providers also showed displeasure in many aspects. The doctors showed discontent regarding unavailability of staff quarters leading to daily commuting to the primary health care centres (few of them which are in remote areas).
Though medicines never run out of the stock and the quality of the medicine is good, the people don’t trust the quality of medicines as they think that government medicines are free and therefore, might be of poor quality. In many cases, doctors allegedly prescribe expensive medicines that patient parties have to buy from outside.
Asha and auxiliary nurse midwives are the health activists in the community who create awareness on health and its social determinants and mobilise the community towards local health planning and increase utilisaton and accountability of the existing health services. But these service providers face various issues at the ground level, such as communication problem, excessive field area and too much workload.
The survey report also alleges that the Asha workers are losing interest and motivation to carry out their regular duties as they are not getting incentives at the right time. Some of them also remained absent on the MAMATA Divas which is held on the second Friday of every month. Due to this continuous absenteeism, the beneficiaries have started losing trust on Asha workers.
Another major issue is lack of ambulance facilities and the people depend on their own bikes and bicycle, to reach to hospitals. Lack of ambulance facilities often turn out to be fatal for pregnant women. The status of 102 and 108 ambulance services is in highly deteriorated condition and people have been grossly disappointed.
CYSD co-founder Jagadananad said: “The study is an attempt to understand the nuances of the primary health care services provided at the grassroots and to gather the perceptions of the community regarding the services like access to health, infrastructure, human resources.”
Delivery in auto-rickshaw
A woman of Sunakhandi Tikarpada village in Kalyansighpur block of Rayagada district delivered a baby in an auto-rickshaw on her way to the hospital on Saturday. Her family members alleged that though they called the 102 ambulance service to rush her to Kalyansinghpur Community Health Centre after she complained of labour pain, the ambulance did not turn up.
Bolangir: After a wait of 18 years, the dream of the people of Bolangir to have a medical college in the district will soon become a reality. The project, proposed after formation of the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC), is all set to see the light of day with the college building nearing completion.
Besides, the state government has also appointed new Dean and Superintendent for the medical college.
Dean Lalit Kumar Meher along with a four-member team recently inspected the college infrastructure and facilities available.However, since construction of its independent hospital building has not started yet, the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) would be used as the hospital for the medical college.
Meher said, “This is a government medical college. So the government has to do everything. Apart from appointing doctors for the institution, the college requires all possible help from all the departments. Everybody has to be involved including the paramedical staff as well as nurses.”
We hope the Medical Council of India (MCI) grants permission to start admissions next year, said Meher.
“The Odisha government should by far start the admission process in 2018. The Dean and four other officials including Superintendent have already been recruited. Other faculty members would also be recruited in the next phase,” said Local MLA and Opposition leader Narsingha Mishra
By Express News Service | Published: 16th June 2017 05:41 AM |
ROURKELA: With the proposal for upgrading Ispat General Hospital (IGH) into a Super Speciality Hospital and Medical College (SSHMC) hanging fire, a Central team on Thursday reviewed the infrastructure and facilities in IGH before submission of feasibility report.
The team, led by Special Director General of Health Services Dr BD Athani, met senior staff of the hospital.
There has been inordinate delay regarding upgradation even though the project is being monitored by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The Central team’s visit came on the direction of the PMO. The team included six other senior doctors from Union Ministry of Health, All India Institute of Medical Science and RML Hospital, but none from PMO.
Athani told mediapersons that they reviewed the infrastructure and facilities of IGH and would submit a feasibility report. Before becoming Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had in April 2014 promised the project and on becoming PM, he officially announced it in April 2015.
To take up the issue, Union Tribal Affairs Minister and Sundargarh Lok Sabha Member Jual Oram and Rourkela BJP legislator Dilip Ray on several occasions had met the PM, former and incumbent Union Steel Ministers and SAIL Chairman, but to little avail.
After several meetings it was decided that the Steel and Labour Ministries would jointly implement the project. An angry Ray had also boycotted the visit of then Union Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in June 2016. Recently, Ray in an outburst against Modi Government had said he was feeling ashamed to meet people of his constituency.
BJP’s arch rivals BJD and Congress continue to accuse Modi of cheating people of Rourkela. If sources are to be believed, the hope to kick-start the super speciality hospital part shortly is stuck in technical complexities.
Patients being examined at a health camp | Express
SAMBALPUR: As many as 108 patients suffer from Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Dakra gram panchayat under Maneswar block of the district. With safe drinking water a luxury for the people in several villages of Western Odisha, the disease has taken roots in more areas of the region.
The Government, it seems, is unprepared to counter the alarming situation in the block. While the Government has miserably failed to supply safe drinking water to the affected pockets, the healthcare system too is in doldrums to face the challenge. The medical college and hospital of the region, VIMSAR at Burla, continues to struggle with large-scale vacancies. Adding to the woes of patients, a senior resident of Medicine department has been managing the Nephrology department in the absence of a Nephrologist.
Moreover, the Government is yet to get a survey done to ascertain the exact cause of rising CKD cases. The kidney disorder, which was confined to a few pockets of Western Odisha, has spread to new areas, posing a bigger challenge to the Health department.
The facts came to the fore during a mega health camp organised jointly by Apollo Hospital and Maneswar block BJD in the GP on Thursday, a month after rising cases of CKD were reported in this paper, ‘Kidney deaths stalk Sambalpur villages’.
From about 200 patients screened at the mega health camp, 108 patients were identified with CKD and nearly 86 others with cardiac problems. Patients were examined by Nephrologist Dr Bibekananda Panda and Cardiologist Dr Byomokesh Dixit.
Dr Panda said the reason behind the spread of kidney ailment can be ascertained after water samples from the GP are chemically analysed for metal content.
Out of 108 patients identified with CKD, 10 need immediate dialysis while the rest need immediate specialised medical attention, he said. The situation is alarming and immediate health intervention is needed, he added. Apart from water, there are numerous other reasons behind the spread of the disease and all cases need to be identified individually and corrective measures taken, Dr Panda added.Earlier, a study by Red Cross in Dakra Gram Panchayat had revealed about death due to CKD in Dhaunrakhaman village under the GP. The survey also found presence of a large number of such cases in the villages of Dakra, Purnapani, Jaduloisingh, Jhariadera, Golabhanga and Aamkuni, all under the GP. The survey had identified 12 patients with CKD in Dakra village alone and three deaths in the last three months due to CKD.
Adding to the woes of patients, the Health Sub-Centre in the GP is closed in the absence of doctors while there are no paramedical staff to conduct tests or create awareness among the villagers.
Bhubaneswar: Construction works of the proposed medical college and hospital (MCH) of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Sundergarh will commence from August 15 and would be completed in two years. The NTPC officials told this to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at a meeting in the State Secretariat on Monday. They also presented the architectural design of the MCH.
As per the plan, the MCH would come over an area of 21 acres of land while its layout area will be of 1,30,000 square meters. The hospital in a five-storied building will have 500 beds with seven specialty departments. It will have facilities for education of 500 students. There will be a 600-room hostel. Besides, there will be a recreation cub, staff quarters, teaching block and parking facility in the complex. Around Rs 400 crore will be spent for the entire project.
Among others, Health and Family Welfare minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Energy minister Pranab Prakash Das, Chief Secretary GC Pati, Development Commissioner were present.
ROURKELA:Rourkela BJP legislator and former Union minister Dilip Ray on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him about the inordinate delay gripping two mega infrastructure projects of Rourkela despite the PM’s announcement on the projects in April 2015.
Modi asked Union Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya to expedite the upgradation of RSP-run Ispat General Hospital (IGH) of SAIL into Super Speciality Hospital and Medical College, Ray said.
In a subsequent arrangement, SAIL has decided to implement the IGH project in collaboration with ESI Corporation, he added. Ray further said the PM also asked Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to expedite setting up of the second Brahmani bridge at Rourkela as part of NH 143 expansion project.
Setting timeline for different projects, Padhi asked the department to complete expansion of Sambalpur-Rourkela road by March and buildings of four medical colleges at Balangir, Balasore, Koraput and Baripada by June this year. Admission to the new medical colleges is expected to start from the 2017-18 academic session. Another medical college is also coming up at Puri and each of the medical college will have 100 seats.
SAMBALPUR: None of the private nursing homes in Sambalpur is fire safety compliant and adhere the norms prescribed by the State Government last year.Only two private nursing homes out of 30 have applied for No Objection Certificate (NOC) for fire safety compliance.
In Balangir, none of the nursing homes is fire safety compliant, said Fire Officer Abani Kumar Swain. While all the hospitals have fire extinguishers, they do not work in absence of regular maintenance. Worse, medical staff are not trained to handle these facilities.
Secretary of Sambalpur Private Hospital and Nursing Home Association, Dr Purshottam Agrawal, said if the State Government decides to strictly implement the fire safety norms laid down by it last year, all the 1,770 private hospitals and nursing homes in the State will close down. The norms mandate sufficient space in a hospital/nursing home for movement of fire brigade, underground and overhead water tanks, installation of sprinklers and fitting of water hose to be run by generators. A majority of the private hospitals and nursing homes were constructed before 2015 and hence cannot adhere to the space norms, he added. Besides, leaving vacant space in crowded places like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela and Sambalpur is not feasible. He, however, admitted installation of hose pipes for supply of water in case of fire, underground and overhead tanks can be addressed by all.
The situation is equally grim in DHHs and VIMSAR, Burla. At the 1000-bed VIMSAR, fire extinguishers are only present in the ICU, Casualty Ward and five OTs. The hospital, however, is well ventilated.
The Sambalpur DHH, which has 268 beds, has no fire extinguishers or firefighting equipment. Surprisingly, Hospital Manager Sudip Kumar Dutta said they have sufficient extinguishers installed in the hospital, which also has several exit passages. “After SUM Hospital mishap, we have asked local fire officer to visit our hospital and suggest measures,” he added.
Even as the 165-bed Bhawanipatna DHH in Kalahandi district has 16 fire extinguishers, only one staff is trained to handle them. CDMO BK Brahma said more persons will be sent for training this year. ADMO (Medical) of 184-bed Balangir DHH, Daitari Sahu said there are 25 fire extinguishers and 15 security personnel have been trained in using them.
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 