Health Min urged to make new Cansaulim PHC operational

Team Herald

VASCO: Urging Health Minister Vishwajit Rane to make the newly constructed Cansaulim Primary Health Centre operational immediately, activists on Saturday complained that the present primary health centre premises is in unhygienic condition with no proper facilities and safety gears provided to the medical staff.

It is pertinent to note that three staff members of Cansaulim Primary Health Centre tested positive for COVID recently. 

Goenchea Raponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) general secretary Olencio Simoes accused the Health Secretary Nila Mohanan of failing to discharge her duties in protecting her own staff from Arossim and Cansaulim Primary Health Centres despite three staffers testing positive for COVID due to the unhygienic conditions at the PHC.

Simoes claimed that when the villagers visited the Arossim and Cansaulim PHCs on Saturday following complaints from the patients undergoing treatment in the PHC, they were shocked to see the Arossim PHC in a dilapidated condition with the Out Patient Department (OPD) operating in the balcony, which is exposed to rain. To add to their woes, the COVID testing booth is operating in the same balcony without following proper social distancing norms”.

“When villagers entered the Arossim PHC none of the staff including the doctors were wearing proper Personal Protective Equipment kits or any safety gear. When questioned, the staff said they were not provided with any safety gear including apron, gloves, head mask shield, head cap etc. They complained that the building was not sanitised daily, but on the contrary, they have personally purchased some safety gears for own safety,” Simoes informed.