Is Khliehriat Civil Hospital fully equipped or mere upgradation of signboard?

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaFebruary 14, 2022

Strange but true it took nine long years for the Meghalaya Government to complete the formality of inaugurating a setup which is already fully functional.

If it was already functional then was it still necessary for the Govt to waste public money for the grand inaugural function. Or was mere changes of signboard but with no actual infrastructure or manpower.

This is the case of Khliehriat Community Health Centre (CHC) which was upgraded to status of Civil Hospital. A building for housing a 100 Bedded Hospital was completed in 2013 and the posts sanctioned in 2014 and has been functioning since then.

Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma inaugurated the Khliehriat 100 Bedded Civil Hospital in the presence of Minister, Social Welfare, Kyrmen Shylla on Monday.

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Sangma said that the Healthcare services throughout the country and the State is very challenging. He also said the government of the State has given unprecedented importance to Health sector in terms of manpower deployment, providing medication and improving and strengthening infrastructure.

“Through many schemes, different sub centres, PHCs and CHCs have been upgraded and many more will be upgraded as we move along and we also realized that many services can be given through the existing health centres at the grass root level without investing much by simply improving the existing centres,” he said.

He also informed that 60-70 per cent of the primary care that needs to be given can be done at the sub centre at PHC level and the government is focussed on the strategy to provide services at the grass root level.

He also said that a large part of healthcare requires to focus on preventive diseases and basic things like hygiene, nutrition, good lifestyle, regular check-ups and preventive measures can help to reduce diseases which are more prevalent in today’s world. “Realizing the importance of this the Meghalaya government has come up with a comprehensive Health policy that focusses on these preventive measures and practices so that lifestyle diseases can be prevented,” he said.

He also added that there are sections in the society like infants, children and pregnant women that need special care and informed that the government accords maximum focus on social sectors like Health and Education.

The Chief Minister also expressed gratitude to the frontline workers in the health sector for their commitment and dedicated service to the people in the last two years of COVID. “It was challenging and without your commitment and support we as a State would have been able to face and overcome the challenges of COVID 19,” he said.

It During the COVID-19 Pandemic the adjacent CHC buildings were utilized as Corona Care Centres.
Also present during the formal inauguration of the hospital was members of the Round Table India who had provided assistance to the management of COVID. Commissioner & Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, M N Nampui and Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills, Abhilash Baranwal were also present during the occasion