70% staff crunch in Mansa, hits govt health care scheme for kids

MUKTSAR : Medical facilities for children are being disrupted in the state as a large number of posts of doctors, staff nurses and pharmacists are lying vacant in the RBSK (Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram ) scheme that is offered under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The RBSK is aimed at the early detection and diagnosis of 29 ailments of kids.

Children from 0-18 in anganwadis and government schools are covered. Treatments and surgeries are performed at the government’s expense. There are teams formed for the purpose with each, including two doctors (male and female both), a staff nurse and a pharmacist.

For Mansa, the sanctioned posts are seven teams. However, of the seven male doctors required, six posts are vacant. There are only two female doctors. The posts of three staff nurses and two pharmacists are vacant. This makes it a shortfall of 70% (only nine members of team posted against required 28).

In Muktsar, five teams are sanctioned, while in Bathinda the requirement is for 13 teams. The vacancies there are also very large. In Muktsar, for instance, the entire five teams comprise only two doctors.

In Bathinda, where 13 teams are required, six posts of male and seven posts of female doctors are vacant besides the vacancy of eight staff nurses and four pharmacists.

“A team should have both the male and female doctors but many teams have either male or female doctor only. The girl child hesitates to discuss their problem with the male doctors. It is very difficult to work with such scarcity of staff, ” said a doctor in RBSK on the condition of anonymity.

When contacted, health minister Brahm Mohindra said, “We are aware of the problem of staff shortage. The process of recruiting staff is on.”