KSU demands Govt to appoint more doctors, ramp up health infrastructure in SWKH

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 22, 2021

The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) South West Khasi Hills District has demanded the state government to appoint more doctors in the district for effectively tackling the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

South West Khasi Hills has 66 COVID-19 positive cases as on Saturday.

However, the district has only 14 doctors in two community health centres (CHCs) and three primary health centres (PHCs) to cater to over 1.20 lakh population.

“The doctor-population ratio in the district is 1:8,000 against the recommendation of the World Health Organization of 1: 1,000 and against the national ratio of 1:1,456,” KSU-SWKHD president Forwardman Nongrem said in a statement issued here.

He said this shows that the people of the district are being deprived of their rights to get quality health care services especially during the present crisis due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

“We therefore urge the state government to sanction the posts of doctors especially for the 100 bedded CHC at Mawkyrwat which has only one MD and three MBBS doctors,” Nongrem added.

The KSU-SWKHD also demanded the state government to ramp up the health infrastructure in the district by sanctioning more ventilators and Bilevel or two-level positive airway pressure, oxygen cylinders and by increasing the number of corona care centres.“We also urge the MLAs and MDCs of the district to not be mere spectators but to take necessary actions to address the problems faced by the CHCs and PHCs,” Nongrem said while urging the citizens not to panic but to take preventive measures to stop the spread of the virus.