Urban health centre lacks facilities, meds

Mangaluru: Despite the government spending lakhs of rupees on various development projects, an urban public health centre in Mangaluru functions in an old tiled roof building, and lacks basic facilities.

The Lady Hill UPHC, which comes under the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) health section, lacks staff and sufficient stock of essential medicines. The CPM Mangaluru South unit has demanded that a new building be built for the UPHC, with all facilities.

CPM Dakshina Kannada district secretariat member Sunil Kumar Bajal said the party will picket the office of the mayor, if the shortcomings in the UPHC are not rectified. At a protest held near the UPHC on Friday, Bajal said that outpatients are not treated at the centre, even for minor ailments. “The MCC has ignored the UPHC, by not supplying medicines, including paracetamol, for the past two months. The MCC should upgrade facilities at the UPHC, and fill up the vacant post of a medical officer. The UPHC has been handed over to private medical colleges, but people do not get benefits,” he said.

“Crores of rupees were spent to dig up city roads in the name of Smart City, but the authorities have failed to upgrade the UPHC, where the post of medical officer has been remaining vacant for nearly a decade,” he added.

CPM Mangaluru South committee secretary Santhosh Bajal said that the Lady Hill UPHC, which once was a maternity hospital, needs to be upgraded.

“There are 10 UPHCs functioning under the National Health Mission in the city, without proper facilities. Meanwhile, seven Namma Clinics will be opened under the MCC. If the MCC fails to provide facilities in those centres, we will launch mass protests,” he warned.

Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) district president B K Imthiyaz and Samarasya Mangaluru convener Manjula Nayak addressed the protesters. MCC senior health inspector Arun Kumar received a memorandum from the protesters, and assured that efforts will be made to fulfil their demands.