Growth of nursing homes lessens the importance of dispensaries

Dispensaries play an important role but due to the mushroom growth of the private nursing homes in the city the importance of dispensaries stands undermined today. However, the economically weaker sections of the society are still dependent on dispensaries as a first destination of medical treatment. G Plus felt it would be useful to provide some details of the existing dispensaries in and around Guwahati. Speaking to G Plus, Joint Director of Health Services, Kamrup (M), Dr. Ganesh Saikia said, “The dispensaries consist of one permanent doctor, one laboratory technician, one nurse, a fourth grade employee and a pharmacist. Other than these, National Health Mission (NHM) provides doctors and nurses on contractual basis. The importance of dispensaries is more in other districts than in the city as there are many private nursing homes.”   Dr. Saikia said that the medicines are brought from the central scheme and these are bought as per the requirement of the dispensaries. “The drugs are bought based on Essential Drug List (EDL) and there are 400 medicines in the EDL.  The fund for the medicines comes from Rugi Kalyan Samiti (RKS) through NRHM. In the dispensaries, pregnant women and children up to one month of age are provided with absolutely free treatment. There is another scheme Navajot Sishu Suraksha Karyakram (NSSK) under which children and mothers are treated for free.”   Dr. Saikia further informed that the health department has also launched Rashtriya Sashthya Vima Yojana (RSVY) for the benefit of the BPL families. “Five members of a family will get an insurance of Rs. 30,000 yearly. The members will have to give only Rs. 30 to the government on which a card will be provided to them and the card can be used in every government hospital for treatment where they will get Rs. 30,000 from the government,” Dr. Saikia stated. “The dispensaries consist of one permanent doctor, one laboratory technician, one nurse, a fourth grade employee and a pharmacist. Other than these, National Health Mission (NHM) provides doctors and nurses on contractual basis,” Dr. Ganesh Saikia, Joint Director of Health Services, Kamrup (M)   Another scheme which was launched by the state government is Atal Amrit Abhijan where a person who has an income of less than Rs. 5 lakhs annually will get up to Rs. 2 lakhs for the treatment of cardiac surgery, neurological surgery, burn cases, medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology and neonatology.      The facility survey for district hospital was conducted by Advent Healthcare Group prior to the survey for PHCs and sub-centres and it covered 19 districts. The districts for which data is not available include Dibrugarh, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Kamrup Rural and Kamrup Metro. District hospitals function as secondary level referral centre for public health institutions such as sub-divisional hospitals, CHCs, PHCs and sub-centres. District hospitals are expected to provide consultation services and specialist services in the field of medicine, surgery, obstetrics & gynaecology, paediatrics, ophthalmology and ENT. They also need to support the people in emergencies (accidents) or other critical care services, OPD services, orthopaedics, radiology, dental care and public health management. The survey shows that District Hospitals in Assam have well-equipped facilities. Most of the hospitals have the necessary manpower and infrastructure to provide the desired services, which can be further improved if they are equipped with required equipment and instruments.     The availability of drugs under RCH programme such as Drug Kit A and Drug Kit B for sub-centre was adequate in only 19.6 and 18.2 percent of the centres, respectively. The availability of prophylactic drugs is very poor. Vitamin A is available in 8.8 percent of the centres, while IFA tablets (large & small) are available in only 10.1 percent of the centres. None of the BPHCs in 13 districts reported availability of prophylactic drugs. In contrast to the prophylactic drugs, contraceptives have better availability. OCP is available in 83.8 percent of the centres, Copper T is available in 77.7 percent of the centres and condom is available in 79.7 percent of the centres.   Points:   • Medicines are available in the dispensaries as per the EDL • More than 400 drugs are available in the EDL • Pregnant women and children are provided with absolutely free treatment in the dispensaries while others have to pay Rs. 5 • According to the rules and regulations a dispensary should have a doctor, a nurse, a pharmacist, a grade IV employee and a laboratory technician   Stay updated on the go with GPlus News. Click here to download the app for your device.