Villagers along Myanmar’s border cry foul at govt’s apathy

The Primary Health Sub Centre (PHSC) near the New Samtal Village off the international border with Myanmar is yet to start functioning even after five years completion construction of the building as the Manipur government hasn’t sent any staff. It’s located about 43 Kms away from the Moreh Police Station, the last border post of Manipur, if one travels via Myanmar’s road. It’s located about 18 Kms from Myanmar’s Bokan Village while it’s located about 200 kms away from the Tengnoupal Police Station.
The PHSC was constructed with the intention of providing health care facilities to the villagers of New Samtal and adjoining villages. The residents of New Samtal and its adjacent villages such as Liyang, LH Janomphai, L Bongjoy and Old Samtal are dejected at govt’s apathy as the PHSC building which was inaugurated with much fanfare five years ago is yet to start functioning.
The state government seems to be totally clueless about whether the PHSC, it constructed five years ago with the intention of providing medical care to villages located along the Myanmar border, has started operating or not. If the government is smug about the fact that the villagers along the Myanmar border must have started reaping the benefits from the PHSC it constructed five years ago, than nothing can be further from the truth. Five years is a long wait. It’s high time that the government make the PHSC operational by sending a doctor and some staff, lamented the villagers of the area.
Villagers along the Myanmar border have to face a lot of difficulties if someone fells ill. Trying to get medical treatment from hospitals or health centres in Moreh is itself a huge task for these villagers. They have to endure difficulties frequently while travelling to Moreh via Myanmar’s road. They can’t take the route through the Manipur side as the road is in a shabby condition.
Fed up of availing medical facilities from Myanmarese hospitals and health centres, villagers along the Myanmar border are eagerly waiting for that day when they will get the same treatment from their own health centre.
These Manipuri citizens along the Myanmar border talking to The People’s Chronicleurged the government to send a doctor and staff without any further delay. They felt ashamed having boasted to their neighbouring Myanmarese citizens that as soon as the construction of the PHSC building was over, they too will be getting medical help from their government.
The villagers expressed disappointment at having to continue to seeking medical treatment from Myanmarese hospitals and health centres even after the PSHC building was completed five years ago. They revealed that they have become the butt of jokes among their Myanmarese neighbours.
A villager told PC after also revealed that exercising the option of travelling to Moreh is a cumbersome exercise as it entails hiring vehicles from Myanmarese nationals and adding to that is another headache of finding accommodations in Moreh. He wondered whether the top officials in the Medical Department have forgotten that a PHSC exists along the Myanmar border in New Samtal. The fact that they still haven’t send any staff for the last five years is ample proof of their indifference, rued the villager.
On being asked whether Myanmarese authorities cause any roadblocks in seeking medical treatment from Myanmarese hospitals, the villagers said that the authorities pose no such threat, It’s not that the state government is completely indifferent to the plight of these villagers inhabiting this remote and interior area of Manipur.
Recently when there was a fever endemic in New Samtal and its adjoining villages, the Medical Health Officer from the Moreh PHC along with other officials took immense pain in getting permission from Myanmarese authorities to let the afflicted Manipuri citizens travel inside Myanmar and get medical help.

Posted by admin on September 14, 2012. Filed under Featured,State. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry