The New Type Primary Health Centre (NTPHC) at Quilmuqam village in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district has been without electricity since it was handed over to the department in 2019. Locals said that the machinery at the facility was gathering dust and has rendered the facility nearly non-functional for a large number of people living in the village and its peripheral areas. They said that after several pleas over the years, the PHE Department was “humble enough” and laid pipes to the hospital some time ago, but it was with their own money that the locals installed tapes inside the facility.
“The department has been insensitive to the needs of people and doesn’t bat an eye despite the situation locals are being put through daily,” Abdul Wahid Shah a village Lambardar told Greater Kashmir. The locals said they had approached concerned authorities multiple times to redress the grievances about the power supply, but no one was putting in sincere efforts to get the hospital electricity that it needed. Shah said that the vital machines like X-ray, ECG, and all other machinery worth lakhs of rupees were lying defunct and gathering dust, forcing a sizable number of people to seek treatment even for minor ailments at the district hospital.
“The machines are worth lakhs of rupees but they haven’t been put to use, which is depressing,” he said. “It has been three years and the department has been making estimates for a transformer the hospital requires. However, it .