Lack of doctors haunts UPHCs

Hyderabad: Dearth of doctors is haunting the Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHCs) across the city and this situation is making these centres helpless. Almost every other health centre lacks some or the other facility besides lack of staff. In 85 UPHCs, only 16 doctor posts are vacant, and no appointment has been made so far. Authorities are taking services of medical officers available nearby which in turn a burdensome for them too.

About nine centres work for 24 hours and half of these centres lack gynaecologists. These centres are also run by the in-charge doctors. There would be 10 to 20 deliveries every day, but lack of gynaecologists results in severe difficulties for the newborns and their families.

Most of the health centres in Old City also lack permanent doctors which results in burden on the temporary doctors and make these centres meaningless. Several complaints have been given to the Medical and Health department about this issue in the past, but no action was taken. Interestingly, some doctors from UPHCs came out to complain about this issue but their agitation remained futile. 

On the other hand, Anti-Malaria centres also lack sufficient staff. For the requirement of 17 technicians, only one employee is working. Similarly, there are only 19 health assistants for the requirement of 107 sanctioned. Dearth of staff in UPHCs, government area hospitals and other wings of health department has been the contentious issue for so long, but higher officials are neglecting it.