Rangareddy: Lack of staff hits public health programmes hard

Rangareddy: In the absence of sufficient paramedical staff like Aasha Workers and ANMs in the Department of Health, implementation of public health schemes and programmes like conducting public health surveys and evolution of NCD cases has been badly affected in urban local bodies especially in Balapur mandal under Rangareddy district.

While the existing staff in Balapur mandal under Kandukur division is facing stiff resistance from the public in several areas due to lack of awareness, the workload online and offline post surveys too are taking a toll on the health of both Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers and Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANMs) thereby resulted in failing to reach targets.

According to official sources, the entire Balapur mandal under Rangareddy district has a total number of 30 Asha workers and 20 ANMs for a population of over four lakh.

"As per mandate, one Asha worker should be deployed for a population of two thousand people and one ANM for a population of five thousand individuals. While the mandal officially has a population of 2.5 lakhs but unofficially the number goes up to over four lakh people. For such a density area, only 30 Asha works have presently been deployed as against the requirement of 100 while only 20 ANMs are serving in the as against the provision of 50," the sources informed.

The whole number of 50 Asha Workers and ANMs are being supervised by a Medical Officer assisted by four supervisors; two male and two female, in the entire mandal.

As a result, the public health schemes and programmes like evaluation of Non-communicable Diseases (NCD), seasonal maladies like Dengue, viral fever, family planning campaigns, institutional deliveries, liasioning between the hospitals and the pregnant women in the areas, distribution of KCR kits, supervision and tracking of coronavirus cases besides handling polio drop programs are hit hard and running behind the clock.

Besides, the sources said, the two neighbouring mandals such as Balapur and Saroor Nagar are top among the entire Rangareddy district in Dengue cases. While Saroor Nagar mandal registered 50 cases since April this year, the Balapur mandal recorded 35 cases during the same period.