REPORT-3-4

Indian intelligence agencies have brought to the notice of the government that Pakistan has constructed as many as 1588 objectionable structures and carried out repair works close to the International Border and the Line of Control (LoC) during the 2004-2011 period, Defence Minister AK Antony told the Rajya Sabha recently.

The Indian government has lodged protests with Pakistan Rangers and flag meetings of Field Commanders were held in all cases. The matter has also taken up by the Border Security Force (BSF) with Pakistan Rangers during scheduled meetings at various levels, Antony said. “Adequate troops are suitably supplemented by appropriate surveillance and technical intelligence resources to ensure the sanctity of the border,” the Minister assured Parliament. The illegal structures that Pakistan has built close to India in the past seven years are as follows: Bunkers (886), Morchas or Fortifications (261), Towers (398) and Post/Border Out Posts (143).

(FOC)

Public health care collapses in Odisha

Debasis Tripathy

It is utterly a sorry state of affair that the people of Odisha are suffering due to inadequate and lack of sophisticated health care in government hospitals. Though the government boasts that adequate health care facilities have been made available to the people, in reality, the people are not fortunate to avail the same for which 70 per cent patients of the state are suffering from leprosy, asthma, malaria, etc.

The government hospitals have become defunct due to shortage of doctors, clinical staff and equipments, etc. for which the common people do not get proper treatment in those institutions. On the other hand a good number of so-called superspeciality corporate hospitals are coming up in the cities like Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, which are expensive and are out of reach for the poor patient of remote areas. There are three medical college hospitals in the state in Cuttack, Sambalpur and Berhampur which are the backbone of the state’s health care establishment, but these medical college hospitals are suffering from shortage of staff, infrastructure and lack of sanitation.

It has become a common thing that one can see most of  the patients lay on the floor of the hospitals due to shortage of beds, and are unattended due to shortage of clinical staff. ICU facilities in Cuttack, Sambalpur and Berhampur medical colleges are very poor due to which the patients either die or shifts to private hospitals through dalals. In many important hospitals and health centres like Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar, there are no alternative power generator systems. If electricity fails, the doctors have no other options but to complete operations in torch light. Such an incident was reported days before in which while operating a patient in torch light the surgeon left the scissor inside her belly and stitched it up.

On the other hand the administration has completely failed to check and monitor the mushrooming growth of illegal Nursing Homes in the cities like Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Many nursing homes are running without taking permissions from the government. The doctors who attend those nursing homes are none else than those who work in government hospitals. In many cases it is seen that a patient may not get appointment of his doctor in the government hospital, but he easily gets it in the private nursing homes. Many private nursing homes are even unregistered. In a shocking incident, some months ago, a child of four years died due to negligence of the surgeon in an unregistered private nursing home in Cuttack. The child-patient was undergoing plastic surgery in that unregistered and unequipped nursing home.

The position of the state remains on top in mortality rate in the country. 8.6 per cent patients die in urban areas of Odisha due to lack of proper health care, whereas the ratio is 9 per cent in rural areas. Mother mortality rate in the country is 212 out of 1000. But in Odisha it is 258 out of 1000. Infant mortality rate is 61 per cent. Many people die due to lack of proper treatment and malnutrition. But the government is callous towards the situation, which rings an alarm bell.