CPIML Bihar state secretary Kunal in a press conference held on 28 December in Patna has called upon the Bihar government to intensify the preparations to deal with the rising cases of Covid. He said that "at the time of the second surge of Covid, we had thoroughly examined Bihar's health system and found that it was impossible to deal with any epidemic or pandemic unless district-level and primary health centres are strengthened. It is unfortunate that efforts in this direction are inadequate.”
In the survey done by CPIML in August 2021 in Bihar, it was found that most of the people in the villages were treated by rural doctors. Generally there are no treatment facilities available in Panchayat level health sub-centres. Oxygen was not available even in Block level Primary Health Centres and Additional Health Centres. Ambulance facilities were also very poor.
According to a report, there are currently two health centers in the capital Patna where there is no doctor. There is a severe lack of facilities like doctors, nurses, medicines, ICU etc. in the several hospitals.
During the emergence of the epidemic, the government calls all the doctors at the lower level to Patna, due to which the health situation in district and lower levels are adversely impacted. The government should refrain from taking such steps. Our demand is that the government should focus on improving the condition of district, community and primary health centers in a time bound manner.
Adequate number of health workers including doctors should be recruited and these hospitals should be equipped with modern facilities. Only then can we successfully deal with the potential threat of Covid this time.
