Hyderabad: As the Telangana government plans to increase the number of Basti Dawakhanas in Hyderabad, the ones that are functional are facing a staff shortage.
All basti clinics are falling short by 40 percent of staff. The third wave of COVID-19 seems to a major cause of the issue. A clinic set up under the basti dawakhana program consists of a doctor, an ASHA employee an Auxiliary Midwife Nurse (ANM). However, several of them are being run by nurses who prescribe medicines, perform check-ups and refer patients to other hospitals.
This practice is prevalent in various parts of the Old City including Lal Darwaza, Purana Pull Dabeerpura etc. As of now there are 256 basti dawakhanas under Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) , 288 more will be set up by June this year.
The health department was supposed to fill vacancies in the clinics, which are facing the shortage of staff from even before the beginning of the pandemic. “There is a need to fill around 521 support staff who need to be sanctioned across the clinics within GHMC limits alone. We also need staff to be on standby to ensure that the medical services are not interrupted when employees are affected by COVID-19”, a senior health official was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
