Rautahat, May 14

Frequent replacement of office chief has affected regular work at the District Health Office in Rautahat.

Duryodhan Rajbanshi, an official at the DHO, was appointed acting chief after then office chief and senior public health officer Raj Kishor Pandit was transferred on February 5. Rajbansi served as the acting chief till March 5, until the Department of Health Service deployed Dr Bipin Yadav as the new chief on March 6.

Yadav, however, was transferred after just one-and-half months of his appointment. Following Yadav’s transfer, Rajbansi was appointed the new chief. Currently, Surendra Prasad Shreebastav is the acting chief after Rajbansi retired on April 18.

Due to frequent change of guard, administrative, developmental and financial activities at the office have been affected, while the DHO staffers have been deprived of their salary for months.

The acting chief does not have the authority to approve financial matters in the absence of a chief. As a result, issuance of staff salary besides other various financial agreements have been halted for long.

“We don’t have any drugs except paracetamol and vitamin B complex at our office,” lamented Emergency Ward In-charge and Health Assistant at the DHO Prabin Jha. He added that distribution of warm bags meant for new mothers and newborn and ration agreement, among other activities, have been disrupted due to lack of chief at the office.