102 PHCs to get revamp, men & machines to provide better care
Shruti.Suresh@timesgroup.com
Chennai:10.02.2019
As many as 102 urban primary health centres (UPHC) under the city corporation will be revamped with new equipment and machines, as the Centre has sanctioned a funding of ₹7.6 crore under the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM).
Officials said lack of equipment and manpower at corporation-run UPHCs may soon become a thing of the past. “More than 100 such PHCs — built many decades ago — have been facing shortage of equipment as the civic body couldn’t mobilize funds,” said a health official.
The civic body has been seeking funds to improve facilities and infrastructure at PHCs, which were accorded administrative sanction last week, for more than two years now. “Using the fund, equipment and diagnostic tools will be made available. Several UPHCs don’t have ultrasound scanning machines, magna vision, cell counter, semi auto-analyzers, which hinders our services,” the official added.
The city corporation runs 140 UPHCs which face issues stemming from lack of doctors and additional manpower like auxiliary nurse, midwifes. “Besides for equipment, the funding will be used for sourcing staff. We are preparing a list of equipment needed at all PHCs,” said a zonal health official.
In a 2017 audit by anti-corruption group Arappor Iyakkam, it was found that 81% of the PHCs lacked scan facilities and only 6% had doctors from 8am to 3pm. “Most of the PHCs we visited had the equipment, but those were not functional. The problem here is that while corporation keeps buying equipment, maintenance is not done properly. When tenders are floated to procure such equipment, they don’t include an annual maintenance contract,” said Jayaram Venkatesan, of Arappor.
Lack of equipment, however, was only a part of the problems at these PHCs as they are often shortstaffed. “Usually, the doctors come between 10am to 12noon. If a patient comes in the afternoon, the doctors won’t be there,” said Valli, a patient at Dhasarathapuram PHC. While visiting the PHC around noon, the doctor was unavailable, and the staff there said the doctor was asked to go for duty to another PHC in the zone.
Shruti.Suresh@timesgroup.com
Chennai:10.02.2019
As many as 102 urban primary health centres (UPHC) under the city corporation will be revamped with new equipment and machines, as the Centre has sanctioned a funding of ₹7.6 crore under the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM).
Officials said lack of equipment and manpower at corporation-run UPHCs may soon become a thing of the past. “More than 100 such PHCs — built many decades ago — have been facing shortage of equipment as the civic body couldn’t mobilize funds,” said a health official.
The civic body has been seeking funds to improve facilities and infrastructure at PHCs, which were accorded administrative sanction last week, for more than two years now. “Using the fund, equipment and diagnostic tools will be made available. Several UPHCs don’t have ultrasound scanning machines, magna vision, cell counter, semi auto-analyzers, which hinders our services,” the official added.
The city corporation runs 140 UPHCs which face issues stemming from lack of doctors and additional manpower like auxiliary nurse, midwifes. “Besides for equipment, the funding will be used for sourcing staff. We are preparing a list of equipment needed at all PHCs,” said a zonal health official.
In a 2017 audit by anti-corruption group Arappor Iyakkam, it was found that 81% of the PHCs lacked scan facilities and only 6% had doctors from 8am to 3pm. “Most of the PHCs we visited had the equipment, but those were not functional. The problem here is that while corporation keeps buying equipment, maintenance is not done properly. When tenders are floated to procure such equipment, they don’t include an annual maintenance contract,” said Jayaram Venkatesan, of Arappor.
Lack of equipment, however, was only a part of the problems at these PHCs as they are often shortstaffed. “Usually, the doctors come between 10am to 12noon. If a patient comes in the afternoon, the doctors won’t be there,” said Valli, a patient at Dhasarathapuram PHC. While visiting the PHC around noon, the doctor was unavailable, and the staff there said the doctor was asked to go for duty to another PHC in the zone.
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