Jajarkot, December 26

In spite of a quota for a medical officer, the Garkhakot Primary Health Center in Jajarkot is without a doctor for the past 15 years.

The center has a quota for a medical officer, a staff nurse, a health assistant, two assistant health workers, three auxiliary nurse mid-wives and a lab assistant. But the centre currently only has two assistant health workers, an auxiliary nurse and a lab assistant.

Assistant health worker Bal Bahadur Shahi, who is also the acting chief of the office, said failure to appoint office assistant had affected services at the centre.

Ratna Bahadur Shahi from Garkhakot VDC-5 lamented that locals had to visit the district headquarters and neighbouring districts even for minor treatment due to lack of doctor at the health center.

Dr Rajendra GC, acting chief at the district public health office, Jajarkot, said his office had written to the concerned authorities seeking to fill the vacant posts.

According to GC, as many as 80 posts have been lying vacant at health centers and hospitals across the district.

Chairman of the management committee of the health centre, Nagendra Shah, bemoaned that their repeated pleas to fill the vacant posts had fallen on deaf ears.