Urban News

The Hindu 04.05.2010

Corporation still has 12 doctor post vacancies

R. Sujatha

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation, which has recruited 80 doctors in the last three years, still has 12 vacancies.

Though the salary is attractive with opportunities of gaining experience in handling a variety of cases, very few show interest, according to Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni. Speaking to The Hindu recently, he said a doctor in the corporation health centre works an eight-hour shift with one night shift every week.

There are 173 health centres, health posts and emergency obstetric care centres within the Chennai Corporation limits.

Health Department officials admit that though 47 per cent of the population lives in urban areas, they still do not have access to primary healthcare. The reason is shortage of doctors and medical facilities in health posts run by corporations or the municipalities.

This lack of interest among doctors to work in a corporation/municipal health centre increases the burden on government hospitals. Every day, the tertiary care government hospitals receive a large number of patients for simple ailments such as fever or scrapes resulting from accidents or assaults, which could be treated at a civic-body run dispensary.

One reason for not wanting to work in a corporation/municipal health post is that the doctors, who are often the most qualified persons, must report to the administrative head, who sometimes does not respect the doctor's abilities to make decisions, a Health Department official said. They are also constrained as they cannot access modern medical equipment. “The administrative system in a corporation or municipality is different from that of a government hospital. Lack of understanding also compounds the problem. The doctors are subjected to unnecessary disciplinary action and they do not receive the equipment required to run a health post,” the official said. Another reason is that unlike in government hospitals, doctors working in health posts worry about losing out on post-graduate and in-service training. Public Health Department officials say one option is to have the government conduct the recruitment for the corporation/municipality health posts. According to the officials it is a policy decision that the corporation/municipality has to make. Currently, the local bodies are responsible for providing the funds to run the health posts and the salaries of the doctors.

Director of Medical Education S. Vinayagam said though the hospitals run by local bodies are generally health posts with medical or health officers, these doctors could apply for training programmes. “The teaching institutions conduct many training programmes that doctors can make use of,” he said.

If the students make a representation that their work should be considered for admission to postgraduate courses, the government would consider it, he said, adding that it rests on the doctors to build confidence in the Corporation/municipal health centres.

The Hindu 29.04.2010

State plans to supply insecticide-treated mosquito nets

Special Correspondent

VELLORE: The supply of insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets to the residents with the objective of tackling the mosquito menace is under the consideration of the State government, according to K.S.T. Suresh, Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS), Vellore.

Speaking at an awareness programme organised jointly by the Field Publicity Office, Vellore, office of the DDHS, Vellore, and the Centre for Rural Poor (CRP) with the objective of making Thimiri a mosquito-free block, in connection with World Malaria Awareness Day at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Thimiri recently, Dr. Suresh said that the use of mosquito bed nets was a more healthy practice than the use of coils, mats and liquid mosquito repellents, and the government was providing one bed net free of cost to each child born in the PHCs.

The DDHS said that mosquito elimination activities are going on in full swing in Thimiri panchayat union in Vellore district from January 2010 onwards. One block in each district in Tamil Nadu has been selected for achieving the goal of a mosquito-free block. A total of 66 temporary field workers have been appointed in Thimiri panchayat union to achieve the goal in Vellore district. They were undertaking activities such as spraying of anti-mosquito chemicals, tying a net around the outlet of the septic tank pipe and creation of awareness through programmes in the villages of the block.

Dr. Suresh said that steps were being taken to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes in the 4098 concrete sewage channels, 10,096 mud sewage channels, 695 tanks and 185 public wells present in the block. He said that mosquitoes would be eliminated in all the 55 villages in the Thimiri panchayat union and the same would be declared as a mosquito-free block shortly. A mosquito breeds 500 new mosquitoes during its lifetime of 30 days.

Therefore it is possible to tackle the problem of mosquito-borne diseases only by preventing the breeding of mosquitoes. Therefore, cooperation of the public is very essential to accomplish the task, he said.

Presiding over the programme, T. Sivakumar, Field Publicity Officer said that 330 crore people in 109 countries were prone to mosquito-borne diseases. A total of 15,24,939 malaria patients were registered in India in 2008.

The Government of India was implementing an urban malaria scheme in 131 towns since the mosquito menace was more in the urban areas than in the rural areas.

A total of 11.30 crore people living in these towns were benefiting by the programme. Africa accounted for 85% of the malaria deaths in the world and Asia 9.4%. A country suffered an economic loss of 1.3% per year due to malaria, he said.

Thimiri Block Development Officers A. Sooriyakala and R. Murugesan, Block Medical Officer Arumugam Parameswaran, Valayathur PHC Medical Officer Sumathi, Vilapakkam PHC Medical Officer R. Vikram Balaji and CRP Director S. Devakumar spoke. Dr. Suresh distributed the awareness leaflets to women's self-help groups.