Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Health Department claims improvement in services

Thiruvananthapuram: The inflow of funds and human resources into many health care institutions in the periphery through the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has resulted in tremendous improvement in the ante-natal services under the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) programmes and the uptake of immunisation programmes, officials in the Health Department have claimed.

While there are institutions where there has not been a qualitative improvement in services despite the posting of additional staff, in many major taluk hospitals, the posting of additional specialists, especially gynaecologists, have improved patient care and services on the periphery.

In Parasala government hospital, where four specialists were provided by NRHM, all major out-patient clinics are functioning on a daily basis and the out-patient attendance too have gone up. All major speciality clinics are functioning here now, with the result that people need not go to the Medical College hospital.

In Nedumangad taluk hospital, for instance, where staff nurses and additional doctors have been posted on contract, at least 170 deliveries are taking place every month now. In Neyyattinkara taluk hospital where two gynaecologists have been posted by NRHM and the Chirayinkil hospital too, the number of deliveries has gone up.

In the absence of gynaecologists, complicated cases of delivery from the periphery used to be referred to either the SAT hospital or the Women and Children hospital at Thycaud. The improvement of ante-natal services in all major taluk hospitals has not only resulted in less number of referrals to tertiary care hospitals, it has also succeeded in reducing maternal deaths, doctors report.

However, shortage of anaesthesiologists has remained a major problem in all hospitals, including the SAT hospital. While the taluk hospitals have been given the sanction to hire anaesthesiologists from private hospitals or have one person on-call, many hospitals are not making use of this facility, it has been pointed out.

Through the provision of additional doctors on contract in major Community Health Centres – 118 doctors has been posted in the district so far – especially in the coastal areas, many institutions can now claim to offer round-the-clock service of doctors. The system had been disrupted following the doctors’ strike and there had also been complaints that in many institutions, the NRHM doctors were not regular in attendance.

The District Health and Family Welfare Society, which is implementing NRHM programmes in the district, has decided to terminate the services of 24 doctors, who were either on strike or refused to report for Sabarimala duty.

This apart, the Society is in the process of evaluating the performance of doctors whom it had posted on contract under NRHM. The contract period had been for six months, which comes to an end in the first week of January 2008. All doctors who are currently in service under NRHM will have to submit fresh applications for renewing their contract.

However, the Society has decided to renew contracts only after a performance appraisal. Doctors who had not been regular in attendance or whose performance was not satisfactory would not be given re-appointment, according to officials.

The appointment of 25 block-level coordinators in all 19 blocks, corporation and municipalities in the district, to coordinate the NRHM activities has created much unrest among the health field staff of the department.

Already, the district has 800-odd Junior Public Health Nurses and Junior Health Inspectors, who have supervisory duties. However, NRHM officials point out that the block-level coordinators have been diligently sending reports on the performance of various panchayats and that their task is only to smoothen inter-department interaction.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

2,831 killed in road accidents till October
Drama fete from today
Record sale
Certificate course
Rice outlet shifted
Transfers suspended
New recruitment system for schools, hospitals mooted
CPI(M) meet from today
Plea to save reprographic centre
City police to keep tabs on revellers
Vice-President’s visit: traffic restrictions in city
Health Department claims improvement in services
Agriculture festival a big draw

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu