MP Govt Pledges Urgent Healthcare Fix After Court Raps Over PHC Neglect
HEALTH
High Court orders doctor deployment, improved facilities at Anuppur’s Rajnagar PHC within 10 days as rural health crisis draws legal scrutiny.
New Delhi: 15 July 2025
MP Government Vows Quick Revamping of Anuppur PHC After High Court Warning
The Madhya Pradesh High Court slammed the state government with its strong remarks and the government has now pledged to improve health services at the Rajnagar Primary Health Centre (PHC) of Anuppur district and place the PHC on rapid development trajectory within 10 days.
The government’s pledge follows a public interest litigation (PIL) which highlighted serious neglect of the PHC by the state government. The PHC has 15 sanctioned posts, including seven doctors and serves over 50,000 people – all of whom do not have a full time doctor.
Maternal Health at Risk due to Doctor Shortage
For the past 18 months, the Rajnagar PHC has been running without a physician permanently in place. The only physician visiting the centre does so ultimately just twice a week. This leaves nurses with critical responsibilities for deliveries and writing prescriptions, a risk for both mothers and expectant mothers.
The facility also suffers from a lack of essential drugs, such as anti-rabies vaccines, and poor infrastructure, including a damaged access road, which makes emergency care nearly inaccessible.
Court Demands Quick Actions for Rely Health
The court ordered medical and paramedical staff to be deployed immediately in accordance with the PIL of local resident Vikas Pratap Singh. The report provided by the State Government indicated that only basic diagnostic equipment, including blood pressure monitors and ECG machines, were available at the PHC. Advocate Siddarth Gothiya, on behalf of the petitioner, considered these circumstances as variations from a rational framework that infringes upon the individual right to health.
An Underscore of Larger Rural Health Problems
The matter illustrates a larger disaster in rural healthcare in Madhya Pradesh, as there are abymally low staffing levels and the absence of basic utilitarian infrastructure. The High Court also ordered the government to present demonstrative evidence of compliance on or before the next hearing later this month, thus placing accountability of public health under judicial scrutiny.