BENGALURU: In times when the Health Department hasn’t been able to assess the damage caused to primary health centres as some of them remain cut off due to landslides, doctors and nurses have swamped the department with requests to volunteer in the flood-affected areas of Kodagu. In normal times, doctors have shunned working in the hilly terrains of Kodagu district.
“No doctor, especially specialists, want to be posted in Kodagu district owing to its hilly terrain, absence of ‘city life’ and children’s education, no matter how much salary we offer them because of which the government hospitals and primary health centres in the district had vacancies in 486 posts out of sanctioned 940,” said Rathan Kelkar, Mission Director, National Health Mission.
“However, ever since the floods started, 326 doctors and specialists, and 160 staff nurses have volunteered to work there even after the relief camps shut down,” Kelkar said.
Doctors and nurses who want to volunteer can fill in a Google document on the department’s website — www.karnataka.gov.in/hfw — that contains basic questions like their availability dates, contact details, organisation affiliated with and if they have their own practice among others.
Kodagu district has 196 sub-centres, 30 primary health centres out of which nine are 24/7, seven community health centres, two taluk hospitals and one district hospital.
Kodagu death toll rises to 20
Madikeri: Three dead bodies were recovered in Kodagu which was struck by landslides and floods, on Saturday. The deceased are Babu (56), Chandrappa (58) and Francis Monteiro (47). The decomposed body of Babu was found 600m deep in Udayagiri. Chandrappa’s body was found at Hebbetagiri and that of Francis at Hadageri village. With this, the death toll in Kodagu calamity has risen to 20 while six are still missing. The search operation by Special Forces is ongoing.
