Indian Express
21 April 2010

Even as the performance report of nine primary health centres was termed ‘satisfactory’ at a public hearing organised by the community board of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), several complaints continue to arise regarding the Rural Hospital at Saswad. According to activists, HIV positive expectant mothers are sent to the city’s Sassoon General Hospital by the health officers from the rural hospital at Saswad.

However, at a public hearing on Tuesday at the Mahatma Gandhi hall of the Pune Zilla Parishad, Dr Hemalata Pisal, district-level coordination officer of the community board pointed out that positive developments had occurred following several intervention programmes under the NRHM.

As many as 9 PHCs in Khed, Purandar and Velha taluka places in Pune district have shown a good performance and the turnout of patients in the Out Patient Department has increased from 7000 in 2007-08 to 16,000 in 2008-09.

Dr Anant Phadke who was a panelist on the community monitoring board said there was not much transparency in the distribution of medicines at rural places.

Citing an instance, Phadke pointed out that if there is a requirement of 50 injections at one primary health centre, then the supply was 500 injections. There is mismanagement of the supply of drugs and while the shortage at some places is not filled in, there is an unnecessary amount of expenditure for medicines at other centres which do not require the drugs, Phadke pointed out.

Pune Zilla Parishad CEO Dr Sanjeev Kumar spoke about the projects that had made a difference in anaemic women and pregnant women. “We have provided ambulances and vans for transporting the pregnant women,”; he said.