Odisha Doctor-Turned-MLA Attends To Patients At Rajgangpur CHC Amid Staff Crunch

Rourkela: A legislator hogged limelight on Thursday for attending to patients at a community health centre (CHC) in Odisha’s Sundargarh district in the absence of doctors.

While the Congress lawmaker, CS Raazen Ekka, who holds a medical degree, garnered praises from all quarters for his noble gesture, the incident also betrayed the sorry state of affairs in healthcare services in the state.

According to sources, Rajgangpur CHC is witnessing a staff crunch. With some of their colleagues on leave, the available doctors had to attend to emergency cases round-the-clock for the last three days. On Wednesday, nearly 200 patients had to return without medical assistance as the doctors were overburdened and refused to see any more cases.

Patients again lined up at the CHC on Thursday morning but were disheartened as there were no doctors. As chaos persisted, the MLA stepped in and prescribed medicines to over 100 patients.

While refuting allegation of staff crunch in the CHC, Chief Medical Officer Dr Dharaniranjan Satpathy said that some doctors had been on leave and those available were not able to attend to the patients, who turned up in large numbers. “As MLA Ekka is a doctor himself, he immediately took up the responsibility and attended to the patients. I thank him for this noble gesture,” he added.

Speaking to reporters, the Congress MLA, however, said that the state is failing in providing basic health services to the people. “I had received calls about the staff crisis at the hospital yesterday. I also spoke to the CDMO, who said that the problem will persist for now as doctors are on leave. I have worked as a medical officer earlier and being the local MLA and a doctor, I decided to attend to the patients at the OPD,” he said.

Ekka said that the government should seriously look into the problem of staff shortage at the health facility. “There is a need for a permanent solution to the problem,” he said.

Sources said that only 2 doctors are posted at the CHC, which see over 40 patients daily.