Orissa’s unending health woes

D N Singh

Orissa Health Ministry`s latest gaffe was seen in Kandhamal district the other day, when the Chief Minister presided over a function where he announced a health plan for 58 lakh students, spread over 60,000 schools. The plan involved regular health check ups of school students spread across the state. The Health Minister of Orissa, Prasanna Acharya, perhaps, has mastered the art of white-washing the reality and keep his neck up above the rot his ministry is in. Be it the attack of diarrhoea that killed 28 people in Kalahandi or about a dozen people falling victim to a still undiagnosed disease in Kandhamal, the Health Ministry`s bluff about preparedness has been exposed. It reflects the Health Minister`s self promotion rather than any concrete contribution towards health sector. Looking at updates with regard to health services in Orissa, the details are always shocking as the state is often in the headlines for wrong reasons. Highest rate of infant, neo-natal or maternal mortality are all that the readers get to know about Orissa. And, during epidemics the ministry`s preparedness seems wanting. The touting of the plan to provide health check-ups for the state`s 60,000 schools under the present circumstances is not only too tall a claim for the ministry but, it also exposes the attempt to keep the Chief Minister in focus anyhow and the Health Minister never misses the chance to take this credit. However, the ground realities are no longer a secret and we all know that the Health Ministry is not even able to provide the basic health services to the people due to shortage of doctors and, an astonishing absence of the desire for service on behalf of the doctors who are there. There also seems to be no initiative on behalf of the govt to recruit new doctors. There is a need of at least 13,000 doctors in Orissa whereas there are just 2,500 doctors! Fulfilling the IMC criteria of 1:3500 doctor-patient ratio is still a far cry. And one need not describe the pitiable conditions in which the Primary Health Centres in the stare are. It took the Health Minister and the Secretary concerned, almost week to decide in favour of a visit to Kalahandi where the epidemic had by then claimed 26 lives. In fact Health service had never been a priority for any government in Orissa. The ministers and bureaucrats are, in fact, too busy in Bhubaneswar to spare any time for the precarious condition of the health services in the state. In places like Bolangir, Kalahandi, Keonjhar, Nuapada, Sundergarh and Gajpati, the failure of health service can be gauged from the fact that, patients are usually transported manually or in bicycles to the nearest PHCs located at no less than 15- 20 kms from the villages. However, when the patient reaches the PMC, it is either the nurse-cum-midwife or the pharmacist who dons the garb of a doctor who do the rest. The politicians make gallant attempts during the polls tailoring the campaign rhetorics so that the voters think that this time they are going to witness a sea of change. Which never happens. May be, as in many other states, in the fiercely competitive world of politics such sensitive issues remain always neglected and in Orissa the spectacle of neglect is more glaring with more than 70 per cent of its population hardly eking a minimum required livelihood.