Social workers call for government attention as Bhatkal grapples with multiple issues

Bhatkal 11 July 2018: (Bhatkallys News Bureau) Bhatkal is facing several social issues that needs to be resolved soon for the betterment of the town, among those is the major issue of adequate health care system lack of which has led to numerous deaths of patient, not to forget the three deaths of delivery patient which was credited to unavailability of blood due to the lack of blood bank in the region. “We couldn’t arrange enough blood to save Nadia because there is no blood bank in Bhatkal Taluka,” said Nazir Kashimji after the death of Nadia Quazi who succumbed to medical complications during child-birth earlier in February this year. Critical care cases are routinely transferred to hospitals with better facilities away from Bhatkal. The lack of a dedicated blood bank with blood transfusion facilities at the local government hospital has severely limited the ability of private hospitals to deliver critical care and blood transfusion during emergencies. Similarly Bhatkal is fighting several other social issues that needs immediate attention, Bhatkallys.com spoke with some of the prominent social workers of the town and took their opinion on some of the major social issues of the town. Nazir Kashimji: One of the most prominent social worker of the town Nazir Kashimji, while speaking to Bhatkallys.com reminded us of the poor healthcare system once again and said "Everything else is secondary, the most important problem of Bhatkal is that of adequate healthcare system here, a dedicated blood bank is must here, we have had enough loss faced, its time the government authorities to the 'rescue of Bhatkal' and set up better healthcare system here" Nazir added. "Secondly another issue is that of afforestation, enough trees have been culled down due to the National Highway widening projects to get the local temperatures high in the next few years, irregular rains and temperature rise are some of the consequences we are already facing due to this, and it can get worst in coming years. To avoid this we as individuals and organizations should co-operate and tie up with local forest department and plant as many trees as possible as an alternatives for those that have been culled down, else we can end up in a climate such as the Delhi were pollution has put lives of citizen on risk. Yes these are the two major problems according to me which need immediate attention in Bhatkal" Nazir said. Nisar Ruknuddin (Top): Bhatkallys.com then caught up with another prominent social worker of Bhatkal Nisar Ahmed Ruknuddin, fondly known as 'Top Nisar'. Nisar while speaking about the healthcare system added that it is the private hospitals that should come up with more facilities and better doctors, getting better facilities at Government hospital won't help, as a majority of Bhatkal people don't prefer government hospitals, they always want to get treated in private hospitals so the private hospitals should up their ante as far as the services, facilities and doctors are concerned. "For me, apart from the healthcare system what is the most important issue that needs government attention is, the issue of registering the forest land, people have been living on these lands for so many years yet they are not allowed to construct or repair their houses their, neither they can sell it. This way crores of Rs. of people has been blocked, they are being harassed, the government immediately should pay attention to this and come up with an people-friendly solution" "Also, there is this another issue in the town municipal council (TMC), most of the systems and records are not computerized, as my office deals with these cases, we have seen rise in number of cases where a person has paid his tax previous year but lost his receipt, so this year when he comes to pay his tax he is asked to present his previous payment slip as they have no computerized receipts, when he say he has lost it the TMC makes his pay the tax of previous years too, which is unfair and harassment, last week the same case took place and when he was unwillingly going to pay the tax of previous three years once again luckily he found his receipts and avoided paying hefty taxes once again, but not everybody finds the lost receipts and ends up paying these taxes again. These thing needs to be fixed immediately, TMC should computerize itself completely and provide more transparency into its system". Nisar added before concluding. Bhatkallys.com hopes the local NGOs and other organizations come together and bring into the notice of concerned authorities these social issues for the betterment of the town and its development. (Bhatkallys New Bureau/ Ismail Zaorez)