Treatment under tree: Pharmacist made scapegoat in Kendrapara

Kendrapara: In an attempt to cover up for poor health care facilities, the health department on Monday directed Kendrapara CDMO to suspend a pharmacist for treating patients under a tree at Babara Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Mahakalapada block of the district.

Director of Health Services Dr Kailash Chandra Dash directed the Kendrapara Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) for suspending pharmacist Chaturbhuja Nayak and submit an ‘action taken report’ at the earliest.

A show-cause notice has also been served to Mahakalapada Medical Officer in connection with the incident, official sources said.

Earlier, OTV had telecast a report in which Nayak was seen treating patients under the tree yesterday in the ‘absence of doctor’ at the centre. Nayak is physically challenged and the centre is managed by an Ayush doctor while the MBBS doctor post is vacant since long.

The suspension decision has elicited sharp criticism from many quarters as the pharmacist was doing his duty of providing emergency medical treatment to patients in the absence of the doctor at the primary health centre.

According to sources, even after more than two decades of its establishment the primary health centre lacks basic amenities like beds, fans and toilets. Patients were seen lying on the floor, while some serious patients had been administered with saline bottles suspended on the branches of the tree.

It is a single health centre that serves eight gram panchayats but due to its sorry condition people are receiving treatment under the tree.