Most of the primary health centres (PHCs) that went dysfunctional in the recent floods are facing huge losses in equipment, vaccines, and medicines such as insulin that are stored in refrigerators.
“The assessment of loss has to be done, but right now, the focus is on keeping vigil against communicable diseases”, said Additional District Medical Officer Dr. S. Sreedevi on Tuesday.
Computers, laboratory devices, reagents, refrigerators to store vaccines, and many other pieces of equipment had been damaged, she said.
Gothuruth, an island north of Kochi across the Vadakkumpuram bridge over a branch of the Periyar, was evacuated in the floods and the primary health centre there was among the many in the district that had become totally dysfunctional.
The Gothuruth centre had been upgraded and spruced up as a Family Health Centre (FHC) recently. The cleaning of the Karumallur PHC was an uphill task as a lot of mud had accumulated on the equipment there, said Dr. Sreedevi.
The out-patient services at Gothuruth are conducted in the waiting area of the Family Health Centre at present. The pharmacy was opened on Thursday last after the flood water receded and the basic cleaning of the premises was done.
The laboratory is out of function and the rooms would have to be sanitised before medical procedures are begun. All the three sub-centres attached to the FHC - at Karimpadam, Koothukkad and Kurumbathuruthu - were also shut down.
Some of the computers and other devices at the FHC were hastily shifted to higher ground in the wake of the floods. Electronic devices would have to be checked by experts before they could be used, said the medical officer.
Eloor, Choornikkara, Mooothakunnam, Karumallur, Chittatukkara, Kadungallur, Avoli, and Kuttampuzha were among places that were severely affected in the floods. The Puthenvelikkara PHC was not seriously affected while the Paravur taluk hospital had to be closed. The Aluva district hospital, however, remained unaffected. The Navy will take up renovation work on Wednesday at one of the at Muttinakkam sub-centre of the Varapuzha primary health centre, where the anganwadi and the sub-centre, located 100 metres from the river, were fully inundated by flood waters.
