Patiently and eagerly villagers have waited for a fully-trained doctor to run the Government Allopathic Hospital here in Ghulteer village.

And with no doctor around, pharmacist Bhagwan Singh Parmar has been filling some big shoes. He has been devotedly diagnosing and treating patients despite a lack of formal medical training and education. But Parmar is the only one here with any medical know-how.

Nonetheless, villagers say they are indebted to him for providing them with basic health care.

[Lal Singh, Ghulteer Village Resident]:
"If it was not for his efforts, every patient who came here would have been turned away. The pharmacist is more competent and responsible than the doctors who came here. It is a must for the government to appoint a doctor over here.”

And since there aren't any medical or surgical specialists, no chronic or serious cases are treated.

[Bhagwan Sigh Parmar, Government Allopathic Hospital]:
"Water has been a persisting problem at this hospital for the past four to five years. We are unable to admit any patient in the In-Patient Department. Therefore we have to refer the patients to the district hospital which is 16 kilometers away from here. In case of an emergency, we give patients first-aid before referring them to the hospital."

The hospital also lacks basic amenities like toilets. It also has no facility for supplying and storing filtered water.