A Grade II BHU, which was opened in April this year in Ugyentse Gewog, Samtse has come as a boon to local residents there. The residents no more have to travel to all the way to Samtse, which is about 18 Kilometres to avail themselves of the medical services.
“We no longer have to travel all the way to Samtse for medical services and it is very convenient with the BHU in our area,” said Geeta Rai.
Jit Maya said they don’t have to spend money on taxi to reach to the medical facilities. “We could even attend to our household chores and have easy access to medical facilities.”
Some of the residents also said they had to travel at times on foot.
At the moment there is only one health official at the BHU. And when he is out attending emergency patients in the villages, the BHU remains closed for other patients.
The Health Assistant, O.N. Sharma, said it is even worse when there are lots of patients at a time. “It is difficult to attend to patients with only one person in the BHU. When I go out of station, sometimes on leave or at times to distribute medicines in the outreach clinics, BHU remains closed. And people often get angry when BHU remain closed.”
But with the BHU in the Gewog, people at least do not have to travel all the way to Samtse hospital. And that is what they are happy about.
