While education and infrastructure have developed in Uttarakhand, healthcare needs urgent attention, says Narendra Singh Bisht
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Report 2019 released by the NITI Aayog indicates that there is still scope for large-scale improvement in the country’s healthcare. As per the report, health facilities in North Indian states are worse than that in South India. Facilities in the country’s largest states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, are pathetic. A close analysis would make one realise that health facilities are as important as the basic necessities. It is an integral requirement of every citizen. Since Independence, it has been given priority by all state governments as well as the centre. Despite this, the healthcare system in the country is in shambles. The condition of the district hospitals in some cities is so terrible that patients prefer to go to private hospitals even if they can hardly afford the cost of treatment.
The report paints an abysmal picture of the healthcare sector in Uttarakhand. It ranked 19th out of 21 States which were analysed. According to the report, there has been a decline in the sector by 5.02 points in the state in 2017-18 as compared to 2015-16. Certainly, a reason to be worried.
An example of this is Nainital. This beautiful hill station attracts millions of tourists every year. However, the city’s healthcare system is hardly up to the mark. It has become a serious subject not only for the city but also for the state. The health of its 50,000 residents is totally dependent on two government and a few private hospitals. The condition of government hospitals can be gauged from the figures where there’s only one doctor to attend to more than 150 patients every day. Additionally, they even take care of the administrative work.
A resident of Nainital, Rashid Zuberi’s child developed complications soon after birth. Water accumulated in the baby’s throat and needed to be removed. Due to lack of proper equipment at the government hospital, the doctors suggested shifting the child immediately to the Haldwani Government Medical College, which is 43.2 km from Nainital. Zuberi said that he had enough money to afford the last-minute shifting and proper treatment but there are many people who cannot afford this. And in several cases, if a patient’s condition deteriorates, they succumb to their illness during the journey. Moreover, shifting a patient in a hilly area is a huge challenge especially during an emergency. It’s worse during winters when there is snowfall.
Even if one reaches Haldwani, the irony is that the patient has to undergo all the tests again, which results in a loss of both money and time. Strangely, the hospital authorities pressurise the family members or the person accompanying the patient to repeat the tests and examinations at specified centres. One can only imagine the condition of rural areas if it is so deplorable in the cities. There are many villages in the state which are eight to 10 hours away from a basic health centre.
The patient and his/her attendants’ problems do not end here. For medicines, they are compelled to wander from one shop to the other. Medicines are rarely available at government medical stores. Often expensive medicines to treat serious illnesses have to be purchased from private medical stores. Although people have got some relief from the Jan Aushadhi Centres, for most of the expensive medicines they still depend on private medical stores.
Being healthy is the basic right of any person. It should be the government's priority and responsibility that proper treatment should be available to all. Everyone has the right to proper health facilities; especially people living in remote areas. This also means adequate number of doctors as well as capable staff along with proper infrastructure. At the centre, the government is running the world’s largest health scheme, Ayushman Bharat Yojana. But this scheme cannot be called successful unless it reaches all sections of the society, especially in rural areas and the economically-weaker people.
—Charkha Features