JHANG City News

Govt dispensary non-functional as
doctor performing duty elsewhere
From Our Correspondent
JHANG: Residents of Chak 442 and adjacent localities are suffering from various diseases, but the district health department has failed to restore healthcare services at Government Rural Dispensary (GRD).
The GRD in-charge medical officer was assigned an additional duty at an NGO’s hospital situated in the city area last year, rendering the government health facility non-functional.
The aggrieved villagers approached the senior health officials of the district and informed that children, women and old men of the villages were suffering from stomach, skin rash, fever and other diseases for getting treatment from local quacks and dispensers. They said annual budget of the GRD was being utilised as monthly salary of the in-charge doctor and other staff regularly, but he was attending to patients at the government facility.
Sources in the health department disclosed that health staffers posted at rural areas’ health facilities were getting extra salaries under the Health Sector Reforms Programme. Sources claimed that Dr Hafiz Abdullah, medical officer at GRD Chak No 442, Dr Sadia Rashid, women medical officer at GRD Jan Muhammad Wala, Raima Safeer, LHV at GRD Haq Bahoo Colony, Tehrim Chaudhry, LHV GRD Ghaziabad, were getting their salaries from the rural areas health facilities but performing duties at an NGO’s hospital in the city.
District Officer Health Dr Qadir told The News the said additional/ general duty orders were issued by the former DOH and the EDO Health. He said on repeated complaints and demands of villagers, he had requested EDO Health Dr Zafar Khan to cancel the additional/general duty orders, which was still under consideration.
The area people have appealed to Punjab chief minister, chief secretary and secretary health to cancel the additional duty of doctors and paramedics of the district so that they could perform their duties in their respective government health facilities.