The state Health and Family Welfare Department has posted medical officers at four Primary Health Centres (PHCs) functioning as Health and Wellness Centres that had been without doctors since January this year. The department on Thursday issued posting orders of 162 medical officers across the state, including one each at the PHCs at Sadwan, Tika Nagrota, Rinna and Wassa Waziran in Nurpur medical block. The appointments come after prolonged vacancies that had severely affected healthcare services in therural areas. The Tribune had on June 18 highlighted the plight of the local residents who were suffering due to the absence of medical officers in these PHCs.
According to the government notification issued following the recommendations of the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission, 162 medical officers have been appointed as job trainees in the Health and Family Welfare Department for an initial period of one year. They will serve against vacant posts in health institutions across the state.
Newly elected gram panchayat representatives and local residents have welcomed the posting of medical officers and urged the state government to ensure that the doctors join duty at their allotted health institutions without delay so that healthcare services could be restored. Healthcare services in Nurpur medical block had been severely affected in four of nine PHCs since the departure of medical officers. However, the Health Department did not appoint fresh or replacement doctors, leaving these health institutions without medical officers and residents in lurch. In the absence of doctors, local residents had to travel to the already overburdened Civil Hospital at Nurpur even for minor ailments. Among the affected institutions, the PHC, Sadwan, located on the Nurpur-Chamba highway, is regarded as an important rural health centre catering to a large population of surrounding villages. The fresh postings are expected to restore basic healthcare services and provide much-needed relief to residents.
