In Samtse, for the residents of Norjangsa-Zochhaling Chiwog in Tading Gewog, access to essential services, particularly healthcare, remains a daunting challenge. The Chiwog is located an hour away from the gewog centre, and its 1300 inhabitants are calling for a health sub-post in the village to bridge the healthcare gap.
The remote village, home to around 170 households, is located quite far from the Tading Gewog centre.
The lack of a primary healthcare centre nearby has posed numerous challenges for the community, especially for pregnant women and during health emergencies.
“In emergency cases including delivery of a baby, we must either go to Phuentshogling or Panbari health centre as there is no primary healthcare centre in our village. The situation becomes even more challenging during the monsoon season due to poor road conditions,” said Phub Dorji Pokhrel, the Norjangsa-Zochhaling Tshogpa.
“One of the residents from Bucca village got severely sick and had to be taken to the Phuentshogling Hospital. But tragically the patient died on the way to the hospital. We were really saddened by the news. Things could have been different if we had a BHU or a health assistant here,” said Om Prakash Ghalley, a resident.
While a health official from a nearby primary healthcare centre makes monthly visits to the Outreach Clinic located in Norjangsa village, residents say that this is not enough.
The issue was raised during the recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu.
“There are about 170 households in Norjangsa-Zochhaling Chiwog. The number of households is not very high, but the residents still must travel all the way to Panbari, which is very far and time-consuming. As such, we took the matter to the recent DT session as well. It would be very helpful for the residents of Norjangsa to have a small health sub-post in their village,” said Yam Bahadur Ghalley, the Tading Gup.
However, the district health officer said it is difficult to establish a new health sub-post for Norjangsa-Zochhaling Chiwog since health sub-posts in some villages are non-operational due to a shortage of health workers.
The DHO also added that it will be challenging to establish a new health sub-post at Norjangsa-Zochhaling Chiwog as the health sector has already started to club the nearby primary healthcare centres for efficient service delivery.
For now, the residents of Norjangsa-Zochhaling Chiwog must take the long arduous journey to receive primary healthcare.
Passang Dorji, Samtse
Edited by Sherub Dorji
