SHILLONG:
The Meghalaya High Court has said that though the government has taken some recent steps to improve the state’s healthcare system, a lot more needs to be done.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the issue, on March 30, the High Court asked the state government to specify concrete steps taken for setting up of healthcare centres. “Both the long-term and the immediate short-term measures need to be indicated, preferably, upon obtaining expert advice in such regard,” said the division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh, in its order.
Stressing on the need to augment the health facilities at the existing ones to provide a basic infrastructure for healthcare which is “woefully short at the moment”, the Court also asked the government to “seriously” consider suggestions put forward by a high-powered committee formed for the purpose.
It also asked the government not to use “constraint of fund” as an excuse to not have a basic healthcare system in place extending across the length and breadth of the state, particularly in rural areas.
Citing Phulbari and Demdema areas of the West Garo Hills, where even the basic roads from the district headquarters to the sub-divisional headquarters are not in place, the Court further added that setting of mere healthcare facility is futile if not supplemented by roads in some parts of the state to provide the people with better access to them.
Ambulances need to be acquired in adequate numbers and medical facilities be made available closer to the villages, in addition to the facilities in the towns being augmented, it said.
The bench also said there are several other matters pending which could be said to be connected, including the abnormal number of deaths, both of mothers and newborns, during the lockdown for alleged lack of medical facilities to cater to their needs in the wake of the pandemic.
There is a further matter pertaining to the setting up of a specialised cancer treatment centre in the State, since the incidence of cancer is higher in the State than the national average and the consumption of tobacco and betel nuts is a part of the daily habit of most residents of the State, it added.
The next hearing is scheduled to be held on April 27.