KENDRAPARA: The arrest of a fake doctor in the remote seaside village of Balikana in Rajnagar block for the death of a child has exposed the sorry state of healthcare services in the district. On Sunday, 13-year-old Subrat Barik died after being administered wrong injection by Indrajit Biswas, a quack. The primary health centres (PHCs) in Kendrapara are facing an acute shortage of doctors due to which a large number of people are forced to approach quacks and fork out their hard-earned money for wrong, sometimes fatal treatment. Apart from quacks, many medicine shop owners in the rural areas also prescribe drugs to patients without knowing the exact disease.
“Most of the medicine stores in rural areas are not managed by pharmacists, as per the guideline. Two years back, another fake doctor had been arrested in Rajnagar for the death of a child due to wrong treatment,” said Hemanta Rout, a retired school teacher of Rajnagar. If a person in the seaside village of Kandarapatia falls sick, he/she has to cross a river and travel 12 km to Mahakalapada for treatment. The population of Kandarapatia is around 2000.
Batighar PHC, which was opened in 1994 to cater to the health needs of 11 villages having a population of around 12,000, has no doctor for the last two years and also lacks medicines. Serious patients brought to the PHC are referred either to Mahakalapada Government hospital or the district headquarters hospital (DHH) in Kendrapara, alleged Arjun Mandal of Batighar. At least 100 quacks are operating in many villages of Mahakalpada and Rajnagar blocks taking advantage of the inability of the PHCs to provide medical help to villagers, said Narayan Mandal of Bijayanagar village.
As per reports, 101 of the 171 sanctioned posts of doctors are lying vacant in 65 Government-run hospitals in the district for the last two years. The highest number of vacancies is in the DHH which has only 20 doctors against 62 sanctioned posts. Contacted, Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Dr Baishaba Charana Sahoo said, “We have sent several missives to the State Government to fill up the vacant posts. Due to nonavailability of doctors in rural areas, villagers often depend on quacks. We are trying our best to convince people against taking any medical aid from the fake doctors.” The Health department with help of police administration will soon shut down all the fake clinics and arrest the quacks, the CDMO added.