Live
- You are freeloader, not students: JNUSU slams VC
- 9 Padma awardees: Burns survivor, disabled achiever, wheel-chair bound educationist awarded
- 36 nominations received on 5th day in YSR district
- TS Inter results 2024 announced, check the results comparison to that of 2023
- Centre seeks info from Singapore on spices ban
- Student murder case: Bike riders create a storm from Bengaluru to Hubballi
- New machine learning models to boost diagnosis of women’s heart disease
- Life comes full circle for pastry chef Nikitha Umesh with ‘Master Chef India Telugu’
- Exploring contrasts in classical dance
- Empowering the workplace through skill enhancement
Patients suffer as 104 services disrupted
The 104 services which are intended to provide better medical services to the people have come to a grinding halt in Khammam district for the last 104 days. The officials concerned are in an unenviable condition that they could not solve minor problems like recharging of batteries, replacement of tyres and vehicle servicing among others.
Bhadrachalam (Khammam): The 104 services which are intended to provide better medical services to the people have come to a grinding halt in Khammam district for the last 104 days. The officials concerned are in an unenviable condition that they could not solve minor problems like recharging of batteries, replacement of tyres and vehicle servicing among others.
The staff of medical services admitted that the services were affected throughout the district ranging from 15 days to three months. There are 25 vehicles for the 104 services in the district out of which three in Khammam, two each at Illendu and Sattupalli, one each at Garla, Aswaraopet, Penuballi, Julurupadu, Venkatapuram, Manuguru and Charla were grounded.
There are allegations that power struggle between two officials was the result of disruption in the services. There are two groups in the district medical and health department each headed by an official who are at loggerheads. When an official puts forward proposals to undertake repairs and servicing of vehicles, the other official puts hurdles to the proposals.
Moreover, the employees of 104 services have not been getting salaries for the last three months. Several employees lamented that the outsourcing staff are being paid Rs 17,000 as against the enhanced payment of Rs 23,100. It may be noted that the lab technician and pharmacist are not paid as per the Minimum Wages Act. They are paid Rs 70 daily allowance as against the demand for Rs 150.
The employees of areas like Chinturu and Kuknavaram which were transferred to Andhra Pradesh were shifted immediately to Khammam but they were also not paid salaries for the last three months, it is learnt. Moreover, they were offended when they were told that they should be grateful that they were still in service.
Nodal officer Dr Kotiratnam admitting that the services of 104 were disrupted due to problem of tyres and batteries, told the Hans India that the matter was taken to the notice of the district collector and necessary funds were sanctioned.
The services would be restored in ten days, he added. Dr Kotiratnam denied that there was power struggle among the officials. Tirupataiah, in-charge of the services told the Hans India that there were problems with all the 25 vehicles in the district. He also admitted that the battery problem was the main reason or disruption of services.
Meanwhile, the people are the worst hit due to the disruption of services. Sode Muttamma and Ramulamma of Charla said that they were looking forward for the 104 vehicle to arrive to give them medicine. They lamented that they were not in a position to purchase medicines. They appealed to the government to get the vehicles repaired and resume services at an early date.
