TEAM HERALD
VALPOI: Members of the Sattari Jagruk Yuva Manch (SJYM) staged a protest outside the Valpoi Community Health Centre on Thursday to protest against the government’s failure to provide sufficient medical staff at the Valpoi CHC.
“Our protest was to make the government aware that human lives in Sattari taluka are at risk. The health facilities provided to the people here at the Valpoi CHC are appalling,” SJYM President Vishvesh Parab told Herald.
“The Valpoi CHC caters to 60,000 people in Valpoi and despite being the lone government hospital of its kind in the taluka, the CHC does not have a radiologist.”
“Two ultrasound machines, one at the main centre and another at RMD in Thane, are lying unused. In Valpoi, around 70 new antenatal patients get registered per month and during pregnancy, women have to undergo a sonography at least thrice in nine months.”
“Private hospitals charge Rs 700 for each procedure and poor people cannot afford such exorbitant rates. These patients are then referred to either GMC at Bambolim or the Mapusa District Hospital, as the CHC doesn’t have a gynaecologist,” said Parab.
He complained that the Valpoi CHC does not have sufficient medical staff, including nurses, physicians and surgeons.
“Besides, two newly-opened operation theatres are lying unused. Many people in Sattari taluka can’t afford private hospitals and in the absence of essential facilities, patients have to be moved to the GMC. In many cases, patients have died along the way, given the long distance between Valpoi and GMC in Bambolim,” Parab added.
Another SJYM member Ranjeet Rane informed that the visit of the health minister to the hospital a few months ago had failed to yield the desired results.
“We had submitted a memorandum listing the various problems to the health minister about a month ago, but there has been no progress since,” said Rane.
Meanwhile, a few residents of Thane-Pali who joined the agitation remarked that the recent deaths of three persons in the village due to diarrhoea like symptoms have caused an alarm in the village.
“People are afraid as the exact cause of the 3 deaths is not clear so far by authorities. The Valpoi CHC should make arrangements to check every person from Pali village.
