Arunachal: Health Dept faces manpower shortages, public appeals immediate posting of staffs

The Primary Health Centre, Borguli under Mebo Sub-Division in the East Siang District in Arunachal has been facing acute shortages of staffs from quite some time now and the general public here has appealed the concern authorities based in the district as well as at the Directorate level, Itanagar to make the necessary arrangement of staffs at the earliest possible.

As of now, the PHC Borguli which is one of the oldest health centres of the region is running with minimal staff strength of only 14 staff including Doctors to the sanitary workers. But as per inputs from the insiders of the PHC Borguli, the present staffs are facing huge workload due to staff shortages which in turn is largely affecting the patients of these areas, especially villages like Borguli, Kiyit, Ngopok, Seram, Kongkul etc of Arunachal where almost all of the villagers are farmers and are hard workers and this region is epidemic-prone.

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At present PHC Borguli needs 1 Pharmacist, 1 Lab Technician (general), 3 Nurses (ANM/GNM) and 1 MPW. It is also learnt that this health centre is lacking in management and stocking of medicines as there is no Pharmacist to take stock of the medicines availability and the shortage medicines are at times requisitioned by Doctor, Nurse etc and due to such situation, there is exact stock of medicines as per need base. The lone Pharmacist was transferred out a year ago, but the authorities haven't placed any reliever as of yet. However as per some inside sources, a Pharmacist from health centre at Ruksin was transferred for PHC Borguli, but he hasn’t joined yet as he has been said of retained there for his sincerity because the other Pharmacist (a lady) in same health centre Ruksin is insincere. And on the other hand the lone Lab Technician (Vector borne) is looking after the general works of Lab Technician, while only two Nurses (ANM and GNM) are also facing huge workload. Village Secretary of Borguli village, Balom Tayeng informed that he had approached the DMO for posting of Nurse on behalf of the people of the area, but no new posting of Nurse was initiated as yet.

When DMO East Siang District, Dr. Kaling Dai was contacted for his reaction over the shortages of staff in the PHC Borguli, Dr. Dai told this scribe that he will manage the posting of more Nurses in the PHC Borguli. “I am bound to pull in most of the staff here at Pasighat for COVID-19 duties due to staff shortages. But I will surely post more nurses there and for other staff requirements like Lab Technician and Pharmacist I will also write to higher authorities for early posting”, added Dr. Dai.

It is noteworthy to mention here that other Health Centres closed to the township of Pasighat like PHC Takilalung, PHC Berung, etc are posted with surplus staffs, but health centers located in the remote and far-flung areas are lacking the staffs which need to be addressed by authorities of the health department of Arunachal.

Meanwhile, Health & Family Welfare Minister, Alo Libang when contacted this evening informed that the staff/manpower like Pharmacist, Lab Technician, etc are in shortage in the state, but the effort is on to recruit new staffs like the department have recruited new Nursing Officers recently and recruitment for ANM is in the offing. However, Libang said that the posting of Nurses in the district can be arranged by the concerned District Medical Officers.

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