After a two-year-long wait, Central government employees in Avadi will be able to use the services of a government dispensary close to home. The Ordnance Factory Board in Kolkata has agreed to hand over 4,000 sq. ft of land in the Heavy Vehicles Factory Estate to the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) to build a dispensary and laboratory.
The land has come to the CGHS thanks to the efforts of a five-member delegation from the Ordnance Factory and Allied Establishment Pensioner's Association in Avadi. The members submitted a memorandum in November 2011 to Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju seeking his intervention in the matter.
The association had been canvassing for a dispensary in Avadi for the benefit of over 11,000 central government staff and pensioners. The latter found it difficult to travel to the dispensaries at Anna Nagar or K.K. Nagar, the association said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Currently, the dispensary is housed in a building declared unfit for habitation. Though the CGHS was in favour of shutting down the service, it had to yield to pensioners' demand for a facility closer home. Many beneficiaries come from as far as Arakkonam, a two-hour train journey from Chennai, and require treatment for heart ailments.
P. Madialagan, additional director of CGHS, Chennai, said a meeting will be held on Tuesday to decide on proper utilisation of the land. After that, Dr. Madialagan said, he would coordinate with the Central Public Works Department to develop a design. “We want a dispensary and a laboratory. After inspecting the site and the dimension of the allotted plot, a proposal will be drafted and the estimates forwarded to the Director of CGHS.
While CGHS is equipped to run a dispensary, there are plans to hand over the upkeep of the laboratory to Hindustan Latex Limited, which is in charge of the laboratories in Mumbai and Delhi.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dr. Madialagan said the automatic biochemical analyser in Anna Nagar dispensary would be repaired this year. “I have written to the Delhi office for funds to repair the machine,” he said.