Neglect of rural healthcare in India
Sangita Reddy has taken an oath to contribute to rural healthcare in India. Truly appreciable, as corporate hospitals neglect this important aspect of healthcare in our nation.
Ninety-five crores of our population is devoid of the welfare benefits of the union health budget. The majority of the Indian population is centered in semi-urban and rural areas. Neither do they have funds to avail treatment at private hospitals nor do they have the scope to approach them.
The maximum burden of rural healthcare is on the government hospitals in many places that lack the required staff and facilities to treat countless patients. The onus is on the central and state governments who have on many occasions neglected the cause of rural healthcare.
India’s health budget is too minuscule to deliver the required goods for rural healthcare. Every day there are unknown sagas of patient, and doctor conflicts, countless deaths as well as inefficiency in delivering proper treatment to patients.
Such conditions have thrived ever since independence and the late Dr. B.C. Roy stressed especially on rural healthcare. Sadly many of his illustrious successors have neglected such a poignant issue. Offering healthcare is neither a fancy nor a luxury business. Every moment the challenges are mounting and in the majority of cases the national healthcare system is unable to cope with the situations.
The prime focus in rural healthcare has been to some extent managed regarding malaria eradication as recently Prince Charles assured the Commonwealth Medical Association of the same. WHO is supporting tuberculosis eradication in India. However, the other ailments of human life, many of which are dangerous, do not receive the exact attention required.
So sufferings keep on increasing and countless tears lead to violent protests which can certainly be avoided. Doctor-patient relations in the nation are so fluctuating that there is no proper balance. Many times a highly qualified medical person neglects the rural patient with an ivory tower attitude which is never welcome.
The villagers of India are not expected to be medically literate. Here again the challenge remains for our medical fraternity to educate and elevate healthcare consciousness among the huge rural population.
As Dr Anna Pullimood of CMC, Vellore, rightly pointed out in propagating ideal healthcare the union of the head and heart is needed very much.
Rural healthcare in India is discussed at many seminars, coffee table talks and workshops but nothing is done in a concrete manner to improve it.
The onus is on the majority of rural inhabitants of the nation who keep on suffering till date as they don’t have the economic means to avail better treatment and cannot afford to go to top-level hospitals.
Regarding this, Dr R V Asokan, ex-President, of IMA, points out that three-fourths of the Indian population does not derive the benefits of the national health budget.
Rural healthcare needs a more pin-pointed focus on health insurance for the maximum number of people, availability of the best healthcare centers and medical care at economic costs. Indian doctors often refer to Lancet and British Medical Journal reports on Medicare. True, they are well-researched reports which focus on healthcare in a poignant manner. However, the same medical practitioners care too little for their rural patients which is a tragedy.
Covid hit the Indian healthcare system hard but a revolution in India’s medical infrastructure is yet to take place. The annual amount spent on research and development is way too little to improve the total health infrastructure. No wonder the lion’s share of Indian people particularly from rural areas are denied health-oriented facilities.
It is high time that a real upheaval takes place in our existing healthcare system and research in the medical field is given due recognition. Corporate hospitals should take special initiatives to keep profits aside and care for the rural population with the latest equipment. Government hospitals should improve their infrastructure to cater to larger target audiences and satisfy medical needs. Above all strikes in the medical sector should not hamper the daily treatments of countless patients as it did during Kolkata’s R.G. Kar fiasco last year.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK
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