Budgam, Mar 04: The people from the Pethzanigam village in Khansahib tehsil in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district appealed to the government to make primary health centre (PHC) building functional for the people as patients are facing a lot of problems in the area and its surroundings.
Mohammad Yasin Sheikh, one of the local residents from Pethzanigam village, told Rising Kashmir that the government started construction work on the PHC in 2008 and the work was completed in the year 2012.
“The government has spent a huge amount of money on the construction of the PHC in the village,” Sheikh Said.
He said that, at present, we did not have any kind of health centre facility in the village. The patients prefer to visit Sub-District Hospital Beerwah and Srinagar-based hospitals for medical checkup purposes.
“We are living in far-flung village where this facility should be made functional for the villagers so that people from the various villages will get benefit from it,” Sheikh Said.
Mohammad Ashraf Bhat, another local resident, said that during emergency times, the patients are facing lot of difficulties to reach the other hospitals despite having health centre buildings in the village that have not been made functional till this date.
“In our village, the majority of the people could not afford to book private vehicles to bring the patient to another hospital during emergency times,” Bhat said.
He said that the health centres have been constructed for the welfare of the people. We are illiterate people; we did not have any knowledge why it has not been made functional in the village.
“The government must take the necessary steps and make this centre functional in the village so that patients from the various villages can get benefit from this facility,” Bhat Said.
The villagers have also requested the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Director of Health Services Kashmir Mustaq Ahmad Rather, and Deputy Commissioner Budgam S. F. Hamid to look into the matter and make this health facility functional for the village so that patients from the various villages can get benefit from this facility.
An official from the Chief Medical Office Budgam said that the Primary Health Centre Building at Pethzanigam Village, which has been constructed, is unsanctioned building.
