Port Blair, Mar 16: Patients who are visiting to Health & Wellness Centres (HWC) in the Port Blair areas are facing hardship to administer prescribed injections due to the non-availability of nursing staff in HWC.

It is learnt that five Nursing staff were appointed under NUHM and posted at various HWC in Port Blair township but, due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic and shortage of nursing staff, these five nurses were detailed at COVID Care Center, GB Pant Hospital during the first week of January,2021 until the next contractual staffs are engaged.
Sadly even after the appointment of 56 contractual staff nurses, the Directorate of Health Services is unwilling to send these five nursing staffs back to the concerned HWCs and stating that in place of Nursing staff Community Health Officers (CHO) will be placed in the HWCs.
As per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health, a Staff Nurse should be posted in each HWCs and CHOs could not be posted where Medical Officer is looking after the charge of HWC. However, CHOs are undergoing training and it will take another three months for completion of their training. Furthermore, it is learnt that sometimes ANMs are looking after the duties of Staff Nurse like giving an injection to the patient but these ANMs are not authorised to give injections to the patient and couldn’t manage the duties of a Staff Nurse as they too have lots of fieldwork.
“Due to the adamant attitude of top officials, the patients are suffering alot who are visiting to HWCs for treatment but deprived to get the benefits of HWCs and forced to approach GB Pant Hospital for injection & IVs,” said a villager of Shadipur.
The general public and patients are requested Administration look into the matter to resolve the issue of the non-availability of staff nurses in HWCs of Port Blair.
Andaman Sheekha tried to contact Secretary Health to get a comment but Secretary Health refused to comment in this regard.