To promote a healthy lifestyle among people, the health ministry had set up outdoor gyms some six years ago. But today, some parts of the equipment have come apart in most places across the country. And one can hardly see any maintenance done on the broken parts. As per the health ministry, the outdoor gym’s maintenance and restoration were handed over to the respective districts and thromdes.
The health ministry only monitors and evaluates the condition of the outdoor gyms.
“Usually gyms are really expensive and not many people have access to gyms. The entire idea of establishing an open-air outdoor gym is to enable people to have access to better exercise so that they can maintain a good body balance. We sign a memorandum of understanding with every institution, dzongkhag or thromde stating that once we hand over the gym, the installation, repair, maintenance and the overall gym monitoring would be done by the respective organizations,” said Kinley Wangchuk, the Senior Program Officer of non-communicable division.
The ministry trained two people from every dzongkhag or organization to carry out the repair and maintenance works. However, carrying out maintenance has become difficult as repair equipment and items are imported from India.
“The caretakers told us that they can carry out maintenance for smaller things like fixing screws. However, they said they aren’t able to maintain and repair big things and thus are still lying idle,” added Kinley Wangchuck.
People raised concerns about the broken outdoor gyms in some parts of Thimphu.
“The outdoor gym is helpful to everybody. Some parts of the equipment are damaged in some of the areas. Children hang on the equipment so it’s not safe as they might slip and get hurt. Therefore, we would be grateful if some maintenance is done,” said Changhala, an outdoor gym user.
“When the government can provide such thing facilities, I think we should take the responsibility to use it properly. We tend to be careless sometimes. I would like to urge everyone to take good care of the outdoor gyms,” said Karma Lekshey, another outdoor gym user.
According to the STEPS survey on non-communicable diseases’ risk factors 2019, Bhutanese people did not meet the recommended level of physical exercise. And as per the Annual Health Bulletin 2020, non-communicable diseases accounted for more than 70 per cent of the reported deaths in the country last year.
Kelzang Choden
