Gujarat HC prescribes healthcare solution for islands

AHMEDABAD: For providing medical facilities on islands along the Gujarat coast, the Gujarat high court has said that these places can be considered as “difficult areas” and norms for providing primary health centres (PHCs) can be modified for people living in harsh conditions.
In April, the high court had suggested that the state and the Centre change the norms for the establishment of PHCs, sub-centres, and community health centres (CHCs) in line with the norms applied to hilly and tribal areas. More health centres are established in such areas. The Centre too had submitted that if the Gujarat government sent a proper proposal, the Union government would consider it positively. However, on Monday, the state government rejected the high court’s suggestion by saying that such changes in norms for islands are not “feasible” and they are not required at present. The high court was informed that the health commissioner and the state family and health department considered the court’s suggestion and opined that there is no necessity to change the norms.

The bench of Justice M R Shah and Justice A Y Kogje sought details of the islands along the Gujarat coast with their estimated populations. The judges said, “Prima facie we are of the opinion that such areas can be considered as ‘difficult areas’ and the norms can be modified/changed considering the peculiarity of places/islands where after evening hours till morning hours, because of non-availability of transportation facilities, residents of such areas may face difficulty.” The high court said that for the time being, boat ambulances deployed by the government will cater to the needs of the people. The court has sought details by Thursday, when it has posted further hearing.

The high court has taken up the issue in response to a PIL filed by the residents of Shial Beyt complaining about the non-availability of emergency medical care at the island and coastal areas. After the high court took the government to task, it decided to provide 110 ambulances in coastal areas and boat ambulances for islands and fishermen to meet medical emergencies. The state government has already deployed two boat ambulances and procured 110 ambulances of 108 emergency service. The government is considering the deployment the ambulances in Kutch district too.