BENGALURU: Doctors are unavailable since six months at an Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) situated at Tasker Town in Shivajinagar constituency, said the staff. Namma Clinic, situated a few metres away also has no doctor since last 20 days, said Renuka, the staff nurse at the clinic.
All patients who visit the clinic are redirected to the nearby UPHC where designated lab technician and staff nurses offer consultation and medicines for all basic ailments like diabetes, cold, cough or fever.
The lab technician, Mala JG said, with the unavailability of doctors at the UPHC, the staff are unaware of the patient’s history, and hence end up prescribing basic medicines. On an average, 60-70 patients visit the Tasker Town UPHC daily.
The nearby Namma Clinic also sees an average footfall of 20 patients daily, which are currently being redirected to the UPHC, according to the staff.
They said they are not facing many issues with the added patient load and that its manageable. During Ramadan, the patient footfall has comparatively lessened, they added.
Specialized doctors, who visit the UPHC daily from 1pm - 4pm, also end up giving consultations to the patients visiting in those hours.
However, everyday a different specialist doctor visits the clinic, which was the provision of the wellness centre.
Health experts criticised the government’s initiative of starting Namma Clinics in all wards of Karnataka due to such discrepancies being witnessed in both PHCs and Namma Clinics.
Instead they should have focussed on improving the facilities at the existing health centres as the staff at Namma Clinic has to depend on PHCs for getting vaccines or redirect patients in case of unavailability of doctors.