Budgam: Health authorities in Budgam district have deputed close to 150 doctors and paramedical staff from various hospitals to Covid-19 care centres. This has not only deprived other patients of healthcare but also overburdened the staff working at these hospitals.
Kashmir Reader has learnt from official sources that as many as 250 doctors and paramedic staff had been deputed to Covid duty in the district. Of them, a total of 105 doctors and paramedics have been relieved of their duties after several Covid-19 centres were wound up recently in view of a dip in the number of cases. Still, at least 145 staffers, mostly from sub-district hospitals, remain attached to Covid-19 care centres.
The 105 staffers were relieved after the authorities wound up Covid-19 quarantine centres at Polytechnic College Nagam, PHC Hafroo Nagam, Nursing College Chrar-i-Sharif, ITI Chrar-i-Sharif, and Covid-19 care centres at Yusmarg, Doodhpathri in Khansahib, PHC Dadaompora, and at Degree College Khansahib, an official informed.
Dozens of doctors and paramedics still remain deputed to other Covid-19 care facilities operational in the district. At PHC Chanapora in uptown Srinagar, authorities have deputed 43 Medical Officers, 35 paramedics, and 20 orderlies taken from various healthcare facilities in Budgam district, sources said.
Likewise, 24 doctors and paramedics have been deputed at the Covid-19 screening facility at Srinagar airport, 28 at the quarantine centre at Nowgam, 15 at PHC Pethkoot in Beerwah, and 18 doctors and paramedical staffers at another Covid-19 care centre in the district.
Reliable sources at many hospitals in Budgam, from where these staffers have been taken away, told Kashmir Reader that their absence has affected many crucial facilities.
At sub-district hospital Chadoora, at least 2 lady medical officers and another consultant at the Gynaecology section have been deputed elsewhere, thereby affecting Lower Segment Cesarean Sections (LSCSs) at the hospital and leaving many expecting mothers high and dry, hospital sources said.
They said that the average daily cesareans at the hospital had come down roughly by half after the deputation of the staff.
Besides the gynaecology specialists, another anaesthetist surgeon, two theatre technicians, and a few other paramedics at SDH Chadoora have been deputed on Covid-19 duty, sources said.
Likewise, at SDH Pakherpora, which caters to 50 odd villages in three districts of Budgam, Pulwama and Shopian, the gynaecology consultant was deputed to Shopian earlier this year, as per hospital sources.
Besides, primary healthcare at health centres across Budgam district has been affected due to the deputation of staff on Covid-19 duty, as per sources.
Chief Medical Officer Budgam Dr Tajamul Hussain Khan was not available for comments on this matter.

Irshad Khan