The Times of India 05.08.2010
PCMC to finally repair civic dispensary
PUNE: Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma on Wednesday approved a health department proposal to conduct urgent repairs at the municipal dispensary at Sindhunagar in Nigdi-Pradhikaran.
The one-storied structure of three rooms and a veranda was inaugurated in 1981. Patients at the dispensary have to put up with a leaking roof, poor lighting and lack of a proper waiting area and toilets. The open space in front of the dispensary has been converted into an impromptu waiting shed by putting up tin sheets.
Since the structure is owned by the Pimpri Chinchwad New Township Development Authority (PCNTDA) and has been rented by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, there was a deadlock over which body should conduct the repairs needed.
Speaking to TOI, Nagkumar Kunchagi, chief medical officer (CMO), said that after the municipal commissioner approved the proposal for urgent repairs work, orders were issued to the engineering department.
Rohini Shinde, the mother of a patient from Sector 25, Nigdi said, "There are no toilets for women patients here and this causes problems if they have to wait for a long time to meet the doctor. The medical facilities also need to be augmented to cater to patients who need to be administered glucose but do not require hospitalisation".
According to Bala Shinde, a social activist, "Patients from sectors 24 to 28 visit the dispensary. Around a hundred patients visit the dispensary everyday. The roof leaks in the rainy season and there are no lights due to frequent short-circuits."
Kunchagi said, "The health department had earlier told the civic engineering and electricity departments to conduct repairs at the dispensary but they refused, saying that the PCMC did not own the structure.
He stated that the dispensary did not have enough space and needed to be shifted. There is an open space in the Pradhikaran area in the Development Plan (DP). If we get this land we can shift the dispensary there, he said.
