Deplorable state of dispensaries adds to woes of elderly CGHS beneficiaries

Patients going to Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) dispensaries are facing a multitude of problems and beneficiaries of the scheme often have to return home empty-handed without getting the required doctors' prescription or medicines.

In many of the dispensaries, absence of doctors and/or staff, discontinuation of visits by medical specialist, frequent break-down and slow speed of Internet are giving endless hassles to the patients. Many of these patients are senior citizens, which only compounds the existing problems.

"Our government has made CGHS registration online but has not been able to provide proper infrastructure to these dispensaries. It has happened thrice that the Internet connection is not working at the registration counter. Because of this, we will have to go back home without getting any medicine or treatment," said a retired central government employee, who frequents the dispensary in his area.

The dispensaries at Pitampura (81), Janakpuri (61) and Dwarka (36 A), which cater to 54,722 beneficiaries, suffer from the issues of frequent Internet breakdown, erratic power supply aggravated by lack of power back up/generator, depleted strength of doctors and staff, lack of potable drinking water and an unhygienic approach road in the rear entry of the dispensary.

Even, CGHS dispensaries at posh localities, such as North Avenue, South Avenue and Telegraph Lane are facing the same issues.

What is to be noted here is that most of the CGHS dispensaries are running under rented accommodations. According to a CGHS official, 13 wellness centres in Delhi are functioning in rented accommodation.

To counter this problem, buildings are being constructed to house the wellness centres. However, the construction of 15 such buildings for the wellness centres is yet to be finished. There are 90 CGHS wellness centres in Delhi and NCR. Reportedly, a large number of CGHS beneficiaries reside in and around Tilak Nagar, an area in West Delhi.

"Not even a single diagnostic centre on the panel of CGHS is located in this region. As a result, to avail the benefits of the health scheme, beneficiaries have to go either to Janakpuri or Moti Nagar for their diagnostic tests, which are very far from Tilak Nagar area," said Vishal Singh Dinkar, a superannuated deputy commissioner.