Health crisis hits Manipur as doctors vanish from Ukhrul clinics

Imphal: A joint team from the People’s United Youth Alliance and the Foothills Naga Coordinating Committee blew the whistle on Ukhrul’s failing health system. Their investigation shows a single Upper Primary Health Centre in Imphal holds more doctors than every community and primary health center in Ukhrul combined.

Ukhrul’s Somdal Community Health Centre is currently running with only one gynaecologist on site. Most other rural clinics are ghost towns. Four centers operate with just one doctor, one is run by a single AYUSH officer, and another facility has zero doctors on duty.

Medical equipment is also missing. The groups pointed to an X-ray machine sent to the Somdal center three years ago that never reached its destination. The Ukhrul Chief Medical Officer has no record of the machine and cannot say where it went. Longjam Abothe, general secretary of PUYA, summed up the mess: "The district hospital and rural health centres are struggling to provide even basic healthcare because of inadequate staffing and unauthorised staff substitutions."

Staff absenteeism is rotting the system from the inside out. Several doctors transferred to the district in May simply never showed up for work. The Chief Medical Officer has flagged these no-shows to the Director of Health Services, but the gaps remain. The groups are now demanding that the Manipur government send help to prevent a total healthcare collapse.