Despite online system, pregnant women made to visit PHCs for regn
Assigned Nurses Don’t Visit Patients
Komal.Gautham@timesgroup.com
Chennai:04.08.2019
R Rathi*, who wanted to register her pregnancy with the state government, thought the system was simple when she filled the online form in the government website under Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation (PICME). She was allotted a temporary number and an urban health nurse was allotted to her who was supposed to visit her within seven days. However, days turned into weeks and the nurse was not in sight. She was not available over the phone. Finally, she had to go to the urban primary health care centre (UPHC) where she was asked to bring her documents. Later, she registered her pregnancy.
This is the situation for most pregnant women despite an online system in place. In some cases, nurses call up women and force them to visit the UPHC for registration even if they had registered online.
There are 140 primary health care centres in Chennai and as per norms, for every 10,000 people one nurse is recruited. After Chennai expanded, in some areas for 20,000 people there is one nurse. On an average, every nurse has to register at least 15 pregnancies every month and each PHC has about three to five nurses. However, due to staff shortage, most times only two or three nurses are available and they have other duties such as tuberculosis control programme, vector control programme and other camps.
One nurse who did not want to be named told TOI that she got an allowance of ₹500 for travel but in a city like Chennai, if she had to make at least three visits every day, it took her the whole day and the travel amount wasn’t sufficient.
Dr K Kolandasamy, director of public health department, said PICME was made compulsory to avoid fake pregnancies, fake birth certificates and to keep track of pregnant mothers.
Dr M S Hemalatha, chief medical officer, Greater Chennai Corporation, said they would look into the issue. “We brought the online system to ensure that working women who cannot visit the PHCs between 8am and 3pm get better services. But there are problems as people are not available at the residences and nurses find it difficult to travel,” she said.
*(name changed)
Assigned Nurses Don’t Visit Patients
Komal.Gautham@timesgroup.com
Chennai:04.08.2019
R Rathi*, who wanted to register her pregnancy with the state government, thought the system was simple when she filled the online form in the government website under Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation (PICME). She was allotted a temporary number and an urban health nurse was allotted to her who was supposed to visit her within seven days. However, days turned into weeks and the nurse was not in sight. She was not available over the phone. Finally, she had to go to the urban primary health care centre (UPHC) where she was asked to bring her documents. Later, she registered her pregnancy.
This is the situation for most pregnant women despite an online system in place. In some cases, nurses call up women and force them to visit the UPHC for registration even if they had registered online.
There are 140 primary health care centres in Chennai and as per norms, for every 10,000 people one nurse is recruited. After Chennai expanded, in some areas for 20,000 people there is one nurse. On an average, every nurse has to register at least 15 pregnancies every month and each PHC has about three to five nurses. However, due to staff shortage, most times only two or three nurses are available and they have other duties such as tuberculosis control programme, vector control programme and other camps.
One nurse who did not want to be named told TOI that she got an allowance of ₹500 for travel but in a city like Chennai, if she had to make at least three visits every day, it took her the whole day and the travel amount wasn’t sufficient.
Dr K Kolandasamy, director of public health department, said PICME was made compulsory to avoid fake pregnancies, fake birth certificates and to keep track of pregnant mothers.
Dr M S Hemalatha, chief medical officer, Greater Chennai Corporation, said they would look into the issue. “We brought the online system to ensure that working women who cannot visit the PHCs between 8am and 3pm get better services. But there are problems as people are not available at the residences and nurses find it difficult to travel,” she said.
*(name changed)
No comments:
Post a Comment