lack of medical facilities in Ma-chu area of leh has brought innumerable miseries to the people. Moreover, poor transportation facilities have compounded the problem. It is important that healthcare reaches the remotest areas
Thirty-nine-year old Deachen Dolma lives in Ma-chu area of Photogsar village, lingshed in the ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir. Though Deachen is slightly built, she is a hardy woman. A mother of three, she is devoted to taking care of her family. Her husband works as a manual labour in areas away from the village. With a shadow of sadness flitting across her otherwise cheerful face, she shares how she lost her fourth child two years ago.
Deachen lamented, “If I hadn’t done heavy physical work during my pregnancy, my fourth child would have been alive.” During her sixth month of pregnancy, she was diagnosed with a condition called ‘oligohydramnios’ or low amniotic fluid. She also contracted jaundice.
“I had to be taken to leh on an animal. The route was via Sumdo and it took around four hours for us to reach leh from Ma-chu.”
Deachen’s tale is tragic and its not limited to her. It’s a tale of the region. Ma-chu is a terrain that is windswept, remote and is difficult to access not only for the visitors but also for the locals to move around. While sub-centres offer delivery facilities in this village, not many women are aware of this provision. Those who are aware, are not convinced that these sub-centres would be able to meet an emergency-like situation.
Many prefer taking pregnant women either to the Primary Health Center at Khaltsi, which is just 56kms from the village, or to the Sonam Norbu Memorial Hospital, the district hospital in leh. Even for antenatal or post-natal checkups, most women prefer to visit the PHC at lingshed, although these facilities are available at the sub-centres.
Health facilities in this region speak of a sore neglect and lack of accountability on part of the officials. Disket Dolma, block medical officer, Khaltsi says, “In the summer of 2015, we visited some villages and found that the delivery rooms were in a pathetic condition. No doctor had ever visited this place. How can one expect the medical staff to provide necessary services in absence of a doctorIJ”
Remoteness and lack of transportation facilities compound the problem. For instance, a woman who wants to travel from Youlchung village to Khupa-la (Khupa Pass), will take around an hour and a half on foot to reach the PHC at lingshed ie a distance of around 17 kms. From villages further down from Kupa la, such as Skumpata and Gongma, it takes a little less of time.
The Department of Health & Family Welfare, ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, provides a two-week training course at the block-level and district-level. However, frontline functionaries such as the Accredited Social Health Activists and the Auxiliary Nurse Midwives are not being able to derive full benefits from this course.
According to Thinlas Chorol, who belongs to ASHA from Photogsar village, “letters sent to us by the department do not reach us on time. There is no bus service to the village; private taxis do not ply either. Even communication through Digital Satellite Phone Terminals is erratic because of network problem.”
Diskit Dolma, the Block Medical Officer, Khaltsi said, “There is a provision for two auxiliary nurse midwives for each sub-centre. One is provided by the department and the second is a representative from the National Health Mission.”
Sadly, most of the sub-centres have only one ANM, provided by the department. The sub-centre at Neraks was being run for two years by the pharmacist and the nurse posted there.
Clearly, there is a lack of commitment on part of the medical staff to serve the people in remotest areas. Attendants are always on the look-out for an opportunity to be transferred to leh. Sonam Dorje, councillor of lingshed region says that given the region remains cut-off from leh for six months to seven months a year due to heavy snowfall, it is all the more important that facilities in these remote regions be geared up to meet the requirements of the community they are meant to serve.
The medical councillor was of the opinion that the lack of transportation facilities is the biggest challenge. There are pucca roads only till Wanla village. After the Public Works Department handed over the task of road construction to the General Reserve Engineer Force in 2011, a 10-km pucca road was constructed, but it got washed away in the recent floods.
Sonam Dorje on the other hand said, “We took up this issue with the Chief Medical Officer, the BMO, the executive councillor and other concerned Ministers in the State. We pointed out that it was imperative that the PHC at lingshed be provided with a doctor at least for six months during the summer. But unfortunately, there are no doctors available in our region. We have been encouraging students studying medicine in Srinagar or ladakh to return home and take up these posts.”
(Courtesy: Charkha Features)