BHUs lack basic medical facilities

Basic medical facilities for expecting women were lacking in the monitored health units as out of 152 BHUs, 39 percent were without maternity beds, 31 percent did not have labour rooms and delivery kits were not available in 22 percent BHUs, says a Free and Fair Election (Fafen) report released on Sunday.
Fafen governance monitors who visited 152 Basic Health Units in 93 districts also reported that 25 percent of the health units were not offering advisory services to breast feeding mothers while 7 percent were even without female staff to attend to female patients. Lack of such facilities at primary health care level should be addressed so that incidents of maternal and child mortality can be prevented. Lack of seriousness was observed in implementing disease control programmes as well. Thirty nine percent BHUs did not have staff to run Control of Diarrhoeal Disease Programme, Malaria Control Programme (32 percent), and Extended Programme on Immunisation (11 percent).
Medical facilities including wheel chairs (57 percent), stretchers (38 percent), oxygen tents (35 percent), sterilises (25 percent) and syringe cutters (13 percent) were also not available in the monitored BHUs.
About infrastructure, more than four-fifths of the monitored health units were housed in proper building, had boundary walls and proper roads leading to them. Electricity connections were also available in 89 percent BHU.
However, a generator for power back-up was missing in 88 percent health units and 93 percent did not have a Sui gas connection. Seventy two percent health units were without a landline telephone connection.
As for human resources at the BHU, more than four-fifths of the sanctioned positions were filled for each post; Doctors (80 percent occupancy rate), male technicians (95 percent), female technicians (86 percent), birth attendants (89 percent), peons (97 percent), gardeners (84 percent), and sanitary workers (93 percent). Government oversight was not very significant during the quarter November 2012- January 2013. Out of 94 visits made to the monitored BHUs, 59 were made by government officials, 33 by EDO/Health and two by elected representatives.