Capital Healthcare woes: Most rural health units lack qualified staff

More than 420,000 people living in suburban areas depend for health care on these health units

ISLAMABAD: Over half of the public health units in Islamabad do not have qualified staff, official sources said.

The government health facilities lack competent people to run their affairs, whereas the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) has yet to move ahead with the recruitment process.

There are three rural health centres, 14 basis health units and one dispensaries functioning in capital but residents in the rural belt are troubled not only by insufficient health facilities but also the prevalent poor conditions at the existing basic health units.

More than 420,000 people living in the suburban areas depend for health care on these health units, all managed by the ICTA.

These units have been functioning for decades but this modest medical infrastructure has run into challenges like competent staff and financial woes, an official source in ICTA said.

At present, he said these are offering facilities like primary health care, vaccination against 10 EPI Target diseases, mother and child healthcare services, outpatient department services, free provision of medicines, medical lab, diagnostic facilities, TB control, dengue fever prevention, surveillance and response and others community oriented programme.

The health department of ICTA, which looks after the rural units, also has to meet extra demands from time to time such as arranging medical care for religious congregations and organizing anti-allergy camp annually.

Also the department has to spend on periodical insecticide sprays, preventive measures during flood situations and other contingencies from the meagre budget allocated to it.

Apart from the financial constraints, the source said there were a number of other factors contributing to the poor state of affairs at the rural health units.

Doctors tend to leave their jobs very quickly, due to attractive packages in their relevant field, the official said. The recruitment of the qualified staff, he said, is still under process at dispensary in Model Town Humak, BHU Bhimber Tararr, BHU Gagrii, BHU Tumair, BHU Chirah, BHU Jhang Syedan, BHU Pind Bhegaal and BHU Phulgran.

No doctor has been posted at BHU Shahdra while building of BHU Tarnol has not been handed over to Health Department so far. The burden of work on the existing staff is becoming increasingly unmanageable.

When contacted, a high official of ICT administration also confirmed about shortage of staff in these units and said that the relevant staff would be hired soon.

There is a long pending plan to build a District Headquarter Hospital at Tarlai for the rural areas.

Presently a tertiary care Hospital is under consideration to be built in Tarlai Union Council with the assistance of Saudi Fund for Development. That will be completed within three years 2020, the source added.

When various officials in health sectors were contacted, they unanimously underlined the need for creation of a separate directorate to run the proposed hospital after it is built and also these health units. They are of the view that without such a directorate these projects may not perform up to the expectations.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2018.