Sambalpur: The Nagarik Committee at Rairakhol sub-division has threatened to block the busy Sambalpur-Bhubaneswar road if doctors deputed to other hospitals did not return to Rairakhol - their original place of posting - within seven days.

The committee members on Monday met district collector Samarth Verma and submitted a memorandum to him stating that the sub-divisional hospital would have no doctors in the near future and said they had no option but to launch an agitation if the government did not fill up vacancies.

Among the signatories of the memorandum were zila parishad member Pradeep Pradhan, councilor Gyanaranjan Pradhan, and Town BJD president Surendra Biswal.They alleged that paediatricians Madam Mohan Tripathy and Biswajeet Panda had been deputed to other hospitals. Similarly, eye specialist Manjulata Dash was deputed to the District Headquarters Hospital. The post of medicine specialist has also been vacant for years, they alleged.

Recently, senior doctor Chandrakant Modi has retired and no one has been posted in his place. Ashutosh Hota, the lone obstetrics and gynaecologist, is also on the verge of deputation.

They alleged that health and family welfare minister Pratap Jena visited the sub-divisional hospital during his last trip to Sambalpur around four-five months ago and had assured that vacant posts of doctors would be filled up. He had also promised to look into the other problems that the hospital faced.

However, the committee alleged, not only has a single doctor been posted but those who serve at the hospital were also being deputed.

"We have no option but to stop communications between Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar," the memorandum said. They said the sub-division, a backward area, was mainly populated by members of poor tribal communities who were dependent on the hospital.

Residents of neighbouring Bamur and Kishananagar in Angul district also depend on the hospital. Poor people will not be able to go to other places for treatment, they said, and requested Verma to take up the matter with the government.

Narrow escape

Students and staffs of B. Nuagaon High School had a narrow escape when two LPG cylinders used for mid-day-meal exploded on Monday. The students and the staffs vacated the school after the cook informed about the incident to the headmaster Trilochan Behera. The fire was extinguished by the fire brigade from Patrapur. The utensils and the cooked food were completely destroyed.