Rural Villages Lack Healthcare
Channel: VideoVolunteers
Date: 2010-05-24

Despite a government requirement, many villages all over India lack proper healthcare facilities. In a village 10km from Tengoupal, Manipur, there is no proper sub center for the villagers and they must resort to using herbal medicines to take care of their sick and dying. The only remaining option is to travel 10 km to Tengoupal, where if they are lucky the PHC will be open. If it is open they may not have adequate staff to attend their needs. Even though complaints have been made the government has taken no action so far to improve the situation for these people.

The basic requirement for a PHC, according to the India public health standards for PHC (Guidelines 2006) by the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, is that there should be 1 fully operational PHC for every 20,000 people in tribal or hilly areas and 1 PHC for every 30,000 people in plain areas. Every PHC should have 4-6 sub centres that are their referral point for the villagers or tribals. That means there should be at least 1 sub centre for every village. The PHC should be equipped with 1 doctor per 40 people per day and a permanent staff of 15 people. There should be 6 observatory beds to one PHC.  The PHC can be upgraded based on its requirements and extra staff recruited. One of the main requirements should be that it is open every day and staff is available 24×7.

You can find the details required for PHCs below: http://mohfw.nic.in/NRHM/Documents/IPHS_for_PHC.pdf

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