KARACHI, Aug 15: The existing three dispensaries and one rural health centre (RHC) of Baldia town cannot cater to the needs of 601,922 people of the town.

Shortage of medicines, non-availability of water, furniture and diagnostic equipment, like ultrasound and weighing machines are common problems in all the health centers. It is ironic that even after the passage of 10 to 14 years the government has so far not approved the statement of new expenditures (SNE) of the dispensaries, which are situated at Sajjan Colony, Saeedabad and Rasheedabad. The RHC is, comparatively, playing an active role, while the rest of three dispensaries are in dire need of prompt attention of the officials concerned to improve their function.

The dispensary at Saeedabad in union council No 5 limits which started functioning in 1991 is now in a dilapidated condition as the building structure has developed cracks and the staff members are not feeling themselves safe while inside the building.

Termites have destroyed wooden doors, windows and the decade-old furniture.

The rooms of this spacious building are now giving a look of a century-old historical construction and the rain water has further exposed its weak position.

The building needs proper checking from the officials of the concerned department, which has endangered lives of the people.

During a visit to the dispensary it was observed that the staff present there was just watching at the dispensary’s gate, but no patient was visible, perhaps due to the obstructions created by the stagnant water in front of the main gate.

Though water is available to the local population around the dispensary, but it has no such facility due to the obsolete pipelines.

It was learnt that the water facility could be made available only after the replacement of pipelines, repair of motor, and cleansing of the overhead water tank. It has no X-ray, ultrasound and laboratory, and the medicines being provided to it are also stated to be insufficient.

At least 50 to 60 patients get treatment through the outpatient department (OPD) daily, the doctor informed. One may believe or not but it is a fact that the only stethoscope available in the dispensary was also out of order. It had lost both the ends that a doctor put them in ears, while examining a patient. It was informed that the dispensary had been renovated once during the last 14 years and that is all. The doctor suggested that the dispensary needed to be upgraded in accordance with the increasing population at least up to the level of a rural health centre (RHC) or basic health unit (BHU).

The condition of a dispensary in Rasheedabad Colony (union council No 8) which started functioning in 1992 is also not very different from the rest of urban health centers (UHCs) of Baldia town.

It was observed that during the monsoon rains the situation in and out of the hospital was the same. The water trickling from the roof had made lives of the staff very miserable. The wet walls had got electric current and the naked electric wiring has also posed a threat to the lives of the people.

The staff itself has to repair the furniture, which was visible from the wooden benches and chairs. The number of patients coming to the OPD on daily basis was stated to be from 25 to 50. The medicines’ quota being given to the dispensary is reportedly not meeting the needs of the patients.

The Urban Health Centre (UHC) of Sajjan Colony is situated in UC 3 which too speaks of the government apathy.

During a visit to the dispensary it was observed that only two of the Class-IV employees were present and a woman with her ailing child was waiting for the doctor at about 10.15 am. It was said that the doctor also had to attend a rain-emergency relief camp.

An employee of the dispensary told this correspondent that water had earlier been supplied to the dispensary, but the surrounding population had no such facility and in retaliation an angry mob forcefully entered the dispensary and demolished the hospital’s water tank, adding that the mob had also tried to break pillars of the building in order to lodge their protest against non availability of water. The upper portion of the UHC, he said, had been changed into the offices of the nazim union council No 3. A lady doctor is available in the dispensary and the upper portion, which consists of four rooms could be made as maternity home, he suggested.

The dispensary is not given annual budget since its opening in 1994 to meet its expenditures and the medicines being provided to the patients from the UHC have to be arranged by the Town Health Office (THO) office on its own.

It is best known to the authorities concerned as to why the SNE of the UHC has so far not been approved. Almost 30-35 patients visit the OPD daily. The dispensary’s building is situated at a distance of about 500 square yard from the metalled road and the people have to walk in a playground to reach its main gate. During the rains the people have to scramble in the water without shoes. The hospital has a vast courtyard, but wild plants have grown up which are giving a bad look.

In the entire Baldai town, there is only one rural health centre (RHC) at Patni area, which is catering to maximum of the patients’ problems, where approximately one hundred patients get medical treatment daily. The staff complained of lack of water and poor sewerage system.

The RHC needs furniture, repair of the sewerage system, wash basins and windows. It was learnt that a hospital of its kind needed at least 10 doctors, while at present it has only six. The facilities of laboratories, ultrasound, X-ray, etc are not available in the health centers.

A patient Israruddin pointed out that there was no maternity home in the town and the people had to rush their patients to the civil or Jinnah hospitals, which are at distance from the area, saying some time patients breathe their last even on way to hospitals.

A resident of the area, Pir Mohammad, said that the people had lost their confidence in the government dispensaries owing to non-availability of proper facilities, and absence of the doctors.

The THO was not available for comments. The DTHO of Baldia town, Dr Imtiaz, avoided giving details. However, to a question he said construction work on a 50-bed hospital along the RHC was in progress and maximum of the patients’ problems would be solved with the establishment of the hospital.

He said the authorities of the health department were well aware of the problems of the health centers and trying to resolve them at the earliest.