For 2 yrs, Siddha dept at CMCH running without permanent doc

Coimbatore: The siddha department of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) has been functioning without a permanent doctor for more than two years now. While officials say there is a growing demand for alternative medical systems like siddha, the siddha department at CMCH has only doctors who visit the campus on deputation on Wednesdays and Fridays.
On Monday, when TOI visited the department, the doctor’s room was locked. In the adjacent room, the pharmacist was busy giving medicines for around half-a-dozen patients who had come with their prescriptions. On being asked when the doctor could be consulted, the pharmacist said a doctor would visit the campus on Wednesdays and Fridays at 8.30am. “The doctor would stay back till all the patients are seen off,” he said.

A senior citizen who had come to collect his medicines said the pharmacist himself knows well about the medicines and prescriptions. He would distribute medicines according to prescriptions, on the days when the doctor was not there, he added. “The pharmacy would be open till 5pm,” the pharmacist said.

An official said siddha doctors from primary health centres at Kovilpalayam, Podanur and Thudiyalur visit the CMCH campus on Wednesdays and Fridays on a monthly rotation basis. “The PHCs have only one siddha doctor. So when the doctors are held up in their PHCs, other doctors pitch in,” an official said.

Officials at the GH said they have been asking for a permanent doctor for the department. “We have been reminding higher-ups frequently, but there has been no action yet,” said an official at CMCH.

The official added that alternative medical systems such as siddha are nowadays well sought-after. “People with chronic diseases, skin diseases and asthma seek treatment from siddha practitioners,” the official said. Even for treating dengue, the state had recommended ‘nilavembu kudineer’, an herbal concoction, under the siddha medical system, the official added.

“Amid such a growing demand, it would be better if there was a permanent siddha doctor in the campus, rather than a practitioner visiting twice a week,” the official said.

When contacted, an official from the directorate of Indian medicine and homeopathy said the department officials from the city had been communicating the vacancy to higher officials when they ask for it twice a year. “It might be because the post is that of medical officer cadre, which can be filled only by promoting an assistant medical officer, that it has not been filled so far,” the official said.

The official added that Medical Services Recruitment Board has been filling up vacancies in the state and they expect the vacant post at CMCH to be filled soon.