Does the doctor in charge of Dangar Primary Health Centre (PHC) who handled the delivery case of the deceased mother Munny R. Marak have the license to practice the medical profession?
The health authorities have been asked to comment on this, but so far the Highland Post is yet to receive an answer.
There is intense focus on the Dangar PHC functionaries in the aftermath of the alleged mishandling of Marak’s delivery case. The woman died allegedly due to placenta retention on June 3 a few hours after delivering her baby.
The ordeal that the 28 year old mother had to undergo was one which no woman in delivery should ever have to go through, said members of her traumatised family. The woman had been under the prenatal care of the Dangar PHC.
This has brought up many allegations against the medical personnel at the PHC. One of the charges is that the doctor who handled her case and who happens to be in-charge of the PHC is not registered under Indian Medical Council (IMC).
It was alleged that the doctor did not have the experience as he did not undergo the mandatory 12 months of internship required after passing this compulsory examination. He had joined Dangar PHC a few months back, the sources alleged.
Dangar PHC is run by the Voluntary Health Association of Meghalaya (VHAM), one among the several PHCs which has been handed over to Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) under the Private Public Partnership (PPP) mode by the State government.
Sources expressed surprise that none of the officials in charge of the Health Department raised this issue even though they were allegedly aware that the ‘doctor’ had passed his MBBS from China (as many have).
It was also alleged that he had not passed the Foreign Medical Graduation Examination (FMGE) which is mandatory for medical students with foreign degrees. A medical official said that without this certification under FMGE no student can practice the profession. “It is illegal to do so,” the source said.
If this is so, it speaks of the complete failure of supervising authorities of the Health Department under whom the PPP venture has been undertaken, it is said.
It is also underlined that the State government cannot escape the blame because they were fully aware that there were cases of unqualified persons being hired in the PHCs and CHCs under the PPP mode by the NGOs over the years.
Sources pointed out that the proof of this is that this issue was flagged in a report called “Evaluation of Public Private Partnership Run Facilities in Meghalaya, 2018”.
Under the title “Areas needed for improvement”, the report recommended that “All NGOs need to ensure that those doctors who had passed out from Russia, Nepal, China, etc should clear the requisite formalities from Medical Council of India (MCI) before being appointed.”
This same warning was issued in another page under the section titled “Human Resource and Training,” where it was mentioned that “many MBBS doctors (working with the NGOs) have passed out from China, Russia, Ukraine and other foreign countries”. The section also said that all NGOs need to ensure that these doctors “must clear requisite formalities from the Medical Council of India (MCI) before being appointed.”
The evaluation report also mentioned that there were cases of the general nurses and auxiliary nurses not having enough training particularly mentioning lack of skilled birth attendant training (SBA) etc.
The PPP mode was adopted by the State government under the National Health Mission (NHM) to reach out to the rural and remote areas with good and affordable health services in 2008.
Since 2014, five NGOs namely Karuna Trust, Voluntary Health Association of Meghalaya (VHAM), Citizens Foundation, Jaintia Development Society and Bakdil were given continuation in August 2014 to manage operations of 22 health facilities (20 PHCs and two Community Health Centres).
The death of Marak under controversial circumstances in the Dangar PHC has been taken up by the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission which has sought a report from the government.
Similarly, local MLA, Himalaya M. Shangpliang had taken serious note of this and followed up by putting the case before the Assembly Committee on Women Empowerment chaired by MLA, Ampareen Lyngdoh. The Assembly Committee has demanded a report on the whole episode from the government, besides seeking a ban on the VHAM.
But it is learnt the government has failed to take this seriously and instead asked the National Health Mission (NHM) to give a report on the tragic incident.
Sources said that the NHM can hardly be called a neutral party as it is itself under the scanner for not supervising the services provided by the NGOs under the PPP project. Only an independent inquiry can reveal the truth, said sources.
