Nagpur, Feb 10
There has been increased menace of anti-social elements in the district Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the night and the female staff working across these centers are under constant fear. Taking above factors into consideration, the Zilla Parishad has made a provision in the 2021-2022 budget for appointing full time security guards in the PHCs.
This was disclosed by the ZP Finance and Education chairperson Bharti Patil. There are 49 PHCS and 316 sub-centers in the rural areas under the jurisdiction of the district.
Sub-centres are not open post afternoon. However, PHCs are open overnight. There are always health workers, doctors available. It is observed that anti-social elements are more active at night across PHCs.
In addition, if there is delay in treatment or any other inconvenience, doctors and health workers have to deal with the unruly behaviour of patient’s relatives and at such times there are no security guard and doctors and health workers have to face the music.
The issue was also raised at the recently convened Finance Committee meeting and provision was made in the 2021-22 ZP budget. It was decided to allocate funds for the appointment of security guards in the PHC. This proposal also came up during the Standing Committee meeting and it has been approved by the Standing Committee as well. Therefore, security guards will be appointed in PHC soon, Patil added.