Poor infra at Dehlon CHC, woman delivers stillborn on way to Ludhiana civil hospital

The community health centre in Dehlon where the woman was first taken to lacked facilities to handlethe complications

Even as the state government makes tall claims of providing state-of-the-art health infrastructure to the residents of Ludhiana, the situation on ground tells a different story.

Several rooms of the building of the community health centre in Dehlon have not even been whitewashed. (HT photo)

A woman from Jand village lost her baby in childbirth, as the community health centre where she was first taken to “lacked adequate infrastructure to handle the complications in her case.”

The woman’s husband, Charanpreet, a marginal farmer from Jand village, said he took his wife to the Dehlon community health centre on Sunday morning after she complained of labour pains.

“She was kept under observation for nearly an hour at the centre but later referred to the Ludhiana civil hospital. But the 25 kilometre commute to the civil hospital proved too long as our child died on the way,” he said. He added, “Had the operation theatre at the Dehlon centre been functional, our child could have been saved.”

When contacted, civil surgeon Dr Kiran Ahluwalia said all arrangements have been made for safe childbirth at the community health centre in Dehlon. “The condition of that particular patient was critical. So she had to be rushed to the civil hospital. While the child could not be saved, the mother is stable.”

The foundation stone for the Dehlon community health centre was laid on 2011 but it was not until 2016 that the construction work finally kicked off. Though the spick and span entrance gives an impression of a fully functional health centre, only two rooms on the ground floor and five rooms for doctors are in a good state. The rest of the building paints a picture of bureaucratic neglect. Several rooms in the building have not even been whitewashed and the passage leading to the first floor isn’t yet to be electrified.

Dr Ahluwalia said, “Due to Covid outbreak, many projects had come to a halt. But now work has resumed and soon all buildings will be fully functional. The remaining part of the building will soon be completed. We are also hiring more staff and doctors to meet the shortage of manpower.”

Another project in the balance

A 10-bed urban community health centre that was thrown open for the public at the civil surgeon’s office in 2019 is also yet to be operationalised due to lack of doctors and staff. It is currently being used as the Covid vaccination centre.