BALURGHAT, July 5 -- The only health facility, Matrisadan, run by the Balurghat Municipality, is on the verge of closure after its Clinical Establishment licence remained unrenewed for the past two years. The municipality has attributed the delay to the absence of a mandatory Fire No Objection Certificate (NOC), which has prevented the renewal of the licence.
Following repeated directives to resolve the issue, the South Dinajpur district Health Department has now served a closure notice to this health facility. The notice directs the authorities to shift all admitted patients to other healthcare facilities within the next seven days and discontinue services thereafter.
The 30-bed Matrisadan currently has 12 patients under treatment. Around 45 permanent and contractual employees are attached to the facility and uncertainty now looms over both patient care and staff employment.
Balurghat Municipality Chairman Surajit Saha said that repeated applications had been submitted to obtain the Fire NOC but the certificate could not be issued due to several deficiencies pointed out by the Fire Department. He added that the municipality has appealed to the Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), South Dinajpur, seeking a few more months to rectify the shortcomings and complete the licence renewal process. Mpost
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.