Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh): Sunita Patidar of Jaora town believes that regular intake of kadha (a herbal decoction) has kept her out of harm's way when Covid-19 peaked. She was so impressed with the medication that she decided to rely only on Ayurveda for any future treatment.
So when she developed cough and cold a few days ago, she headed to the AYUSH hospital in Jaora, located 30 kilometre from Ratlam district headquarters, in hope of getting some relief. Much to her dismay, neither the doctor nor the compounder was present. Two days later, she managed to meet the compounder, who informed her that medicines were not available. She had to return empty-handed, sick and coughing.
As many as 39 AYUSH centres are present in Ratlam district, but most of them function in the same fashion as the hospital in Jaora does. In the state budget for 2023-24, a total of Rs 342 crore was allocated for AYUSH hospitals and dispensaries. One look at any of the centres in Ratlam and it becomes difficult to understand where all the money is going!
'Fully-functional' clinics are locked up or 'ailing', when the core idea of establishing them under the Central government's National AYUSH Mission (NAM) is to promote and develop traditional systems of medicine and healthcare, including Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy.
Compounder keeps dispensary afloat
A compounder runs the AYUSH hospital in Jaora from an 80-year-old building which remains under the influence of water when it rains. The place has a musty smell and the frayed wires keep one in permanent fear of fire and electric shock.
When the place was visited, around 10 patients were at the hospital. As expected, the compounder attended them one by one. She is the one and only person who works here, though the hospital has two sanctioned posts of doctors to cater to a population of 75k in Jaora Assembly constituency.
Two sanctioned posts of women AYUSH health workers are also vacant with one transferred and the other attached to the collector's office. There are two chemists at the dispensary, sitting before empty shelves awaiting medicines that never arrive.
37 needed, just seven available
At present, only seven Ayurveda doctors work under the AYUSH department in Ratlam district against 34 sanctioned posts. Similarly, only five of the total seven community health officers are in service.
‘We will appoint more doctors across the state soon. The recruitment process to select 710 doctors is on,’ Chauhan said, when asked about severe staff shortage.
During a recent visit to Ratlam district for audit purposes, divisional AYUSH officer Jyoti Panchal had ordered that drugs should not be dispensed without consulting a doctor. Ironically, most of the dispensaries in the district are run by Class IV employees who do not have the authority to prescribe medicines.
‘The district AYUSH officer says, ‘If the patients are not treated, then class IV staff will not get any salary. If we give medicines, action will be taken against us. If we do not, then also our fate remains the same. Shortage of doctors is really affecting us,’ a Class IV employee, on condition of anonymity said.
Budget allocation
The AYUSH department does not seem to be in need of funds, if the state budget announcement is taken into account. Of the total of Rs 5,608.63 lakh provided under NAM in 2020-21, the government spent over 90 per cent (Rs 5,142.49 lakh). Out of Rs 3,123.80 lakh sanctioned in 2021-22, Rs 2,575.19 were utilised. The allocation went up to Rs 11,441.78 lakh in 2022-23, out of which 82 per cent was utilised. Ratlam district too allocates a quarterly budget for the AYUSH department. Recently, the department organised special camps for women, with a budget of Rs 40k per camp.
