CM lays foundation stone of medical store in Jorhat, MLA rues shortage of doctors

From a Correspondent

JORHAT, August 6: An hour before winding off the three- day tour official tour of the district, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the construction of a medicine store building in Jorhat to be built at a cost of Rs 58 lakh under NRHM and within an eight-month time frame. Incidentally the proposed building site at KB Road is adjacent to the official residence of the present Joint Director of Health and after completion will serve the purpose of stocking free medicines and equipments received by NRHM for distribution to almost 46 PHCs and MPHCs (Mini Public Health Centre) of the district.

Presiding over the meeting MLA Ra Goswami said, “The need for a medical store building was felt for quite some time now and the project has filly taken shape today after the Chief Minister formally laid the foundation stone. As such the health department has been facing an acute shortage of storage area to house the free medicines because of which many important medicines, including saline bottles are spoilt. There are two stores of the health department in Jorhat among which one is functioning from the office of the Joint Director Health at AT Road and the other from a rented premise near the Niramoy Hospital in Jail Road, thus creating hassles in the effective distribution of important life-saving drugs. That is why the government felt the need to build a store centrally located and with sufficient space. I am confident that the building will come up within the allotted time and serve the interest of the health department as well as the people of Jorhat.”

MLA Ra Goswami further said, “Apart from the problem of a permanent store today the health department also faces an acute shortage of doctors and trained medical persons. It is with great regret I have to say that the State Government spends up to Rs 70 lakh to make a doctor who in turn either joins private nursing homes or migrates to foreign land and this is mainly because of an idequate salary. But now our government has decided to pay extra incentives to hire doctors for our modal hospitals in the district which are nearing completion like the kachari 30-bedded hospital and others like the one in Bhogamukh in Teok, Kohargaon and one in the Dakhin Paat area of Majuli. During an emergency we don’t find a nephrologist, neurologist or even an experienced cardiologist.”  

Earlier, the Chief Minister who was accompanied by Kaliabor MP Gaurav Gogoi, could not stay for the official meeting just after the foundation laying ceremony.  However, he entrusted the local MLA Ra Goswami, DC Solanki Vishal Vasant and Joint Director Dr Mubidur Rahman to apprise the people about the building structure as well as the health scerio of the district and the importance of the store. Also present in the meeting were representatives of Jorhat Medical College Hospital and ASHA workers.