Chariduar Community Health Centre in Sonitpur district. A Telegraph picture

Sept. 12: Healthcare facilities in rural Sonitpur just became more accessible with two health centres set to be upgraded to first referral units by the end of this year.

Dhekiajuli community health centre will be the first to be the turned into a referral unit, while Chariduar health centre will follow suit.

The joint director of health services, Amritlal Borua, said work on the projects, to be undertaken by the National Rural Health Mission, have begun.

In Dhekiajuli, additional buildings and operation theatres have been built and machinery installed.

Three specialists — a gynaecologist, a specialist in medicine and an anaesthetist — have also been recruited.

“The remaining work will be completed within a month and we will open the first referral unit by September-end. We hope to complete the Chariduar unit within this year,” Borua said.

Sonitpur has five community health centres, of which Gohpur and Biswanath Chariali were upgraded to first referral units in November 2006 with financial aid from the European Commission.

Besides, it has eight primary health centres and 10 dispensaries.

“The basic aim of these institutions is to provide immediate medical support to the people living in rural areas, especially to pregnant women, and reduce infant mortality rate. They are equipped to handle critical cases too,” said a health department source.

Nagaon was the first district in the state to get a first referral unit in 1999.

By 2001, at least five units were built in the central Assam district.

Nagaon’s Dhing referral unit, in fact, is the largest rural health institution in India.

In Sonitpur, the referral unit at Biswanath Chariali looks after the entire rural belt on the northern bank of Assam.

“At least 300 Caesarean operations and hundreds of other minor operations have been conducted in the past 20 months. We have nine doctors, including seven specialists. Initially, sonography and X-ray were conducted here, but they had to be stopped because of a staff crunch,” said the superintendent of Biswanath Chariali referral unit, Ramen Hazarika.

The referral centre at Gohpur, too, has handled 40 major operations since November 2006.

“But our main problem is that we have to depend on neighbouring Biswanath Chariali unit for an operation, as we do not have anaesthetist of our own,” said Gohpur in-charge Upen Pegu.