DHENKANAL: Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan has expressed concern over the widening sex ratio in the district despite efforts to create awareness on the importance of girl child.
Though the male-female ratio was 1,000:943 in the district, it is widening gradually going by the block-level data on sex ratio. As per reports, the ratio in block level continues to decline with Odapada registering 1,000: 677, Parjang 1,000: 688 and Dhenkanal Sadar 1,000: 934. The worrying figure came to light during a quarterly review meeting held recently at the Collectorate.
Expressing his dissatisfaction over the poor implementation of Biju Kanya Ratna Yojana in the district, Kalyan said it had to be corrected by encouraging birth of the girl child in future. A change in the attitude of people was the need of the hour so that there would not be any imbalance in the male-female population, he added.
On the other hand, shortage of doctors and anesthesiologists has paralysed healthcare services in several First Referral Units (FRU) of Hindol and Kamakshyanagar sub-divisional hospitals in the district. As a result, pregnant women are being forced to shift to other hospitals or go for normal delivery instead of C-section. Less than five normal deliveries per month has been recorded in Parjang CHC, it was revealed during the meeting.
Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Dr Basudev Behera, who was present in the meeting, said two anesthesiologists are undergoing training and one specialist is managing the C-section in the DHH.
The Collector directed the CDMO to engage retired anesthesiologists on contract basis in FRUs to decongest the DHH. He also assured to release `three lakh quarterly to open Kalpana centre on a par with Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres in DHH for low-weight new-born babies.