Odisha: Staff shortage renders community health care blood unit in Betnoti useless for 15 years

BARIPADA: The lack of manpower and machinery worth lakhs lying damaged have rendered the blood storage unit of Betnoti community health centre (CHC) in Betnoti block of the district non-functional for the past 15 years.

Sources said, the CHC has been catering to the medical needs of people from Betnoti, Baisinga and Baripada blocks for the past many years since it is situated just 10 metre away from the National Highway-18. It had received the first referral nod from the Health department before 2008 and a blood storage unit was also set up during that time when it had adequate manpower. However, eventually, the nod was withdrawn when the CHC began facing scarcity of specialists.

The blood storage unit was shut and the blood exchange facility from the CHC too, stopped following which the patients were compelled to go to the Pandit Raghunath Murmu medical college and hospital in Baripada located nearly 25 km away from the Betnoti CHC. Thalassemia patients and other emergency patients in the area too, had to face the same dilemma.

Betnoti locals Prakash Behera and Arun Otta demanded the Health department to provide adequate specialists and reissue their referral nod to the CHC which would also help the blood storage facility to become functional again.

The in-charge medical officer of the CHC Dr Sipun Kumar Panda expressing his concern over the issues said he has taken the matter to the higher authorities and has appealed them to make the blood storage unit functional again.