Recommendations to be sent to Govt for action
Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Nov 3: The national-level roundtable dialogue held earlier at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, to address healthcare disparities in tribal regions has come up with its recommendations, advocating for the development of a ‘Right-to-Care’ policy for the tribal population living in J&K.
The recommendations, aimed at addressing healthcare disparities in these populations, will provide necessary inputs for the development of healthcare policy for the tribal population living in J&K.
The document, framed based on the inputs from experts in the field who attended the dialogue in collaboration with ECHO India and GMC’s Community Medicine Department in October, will be submitted to the Government to initiate the necessary changes and reforms in the existing healthcare system, best suited for the members of the tribal population.
The recommendations have stated that the policy formed must be technically correct for professionals and doctors, as well as administratively implementable and politically supportable, which will bring stakeholders to a common platform to work together in cohesion with community engagement.
“Developing a Right-to-Care policy for tribal health plans requires three parameters, including that the policy must be technically correct for professionals and doctors. It must be administratively implementable when creating a policy. And lastly, it must be politically supportable, bringing stakeholders to a common platform to work together in cohesion with community engagement,” stated the recommendations made in this regard.
It has been stated that the time has come to re-engineer and tailor the entire tribal health and tribal system to align with their traditional food, medicine, value systems, and practices. “In doing so, we must understand the current state of their education and living system and how they cope with integration into the current health system.”
Given the diversity of the tribal population, the recommendations note that ‘one policy or one plan’ may not fit all tribal communities, highlighting the need to understand the local sensitivities of the tribal community.
“They are very adaptive and positive about adopting new policies and interventions; however, we must be very careful about the kind of policies and interventions introduced to them.”
The experts noted in the recommendations that the level of institutional deliveries, access to nutritional food, and the type of supplements through medicine are key areas that need understanding and the development of a baseline for each of these indicators.
The recommendations also note a high maternal mortality rate and a high infant mortality rate, emphasizing that all National Programs related to Maternal Child Health services should prioritize these populations.
Regarding the Cancer Screening and Awareness Program, it has been noted that there is a need to coordinate with tribal leaders, focus on community engagement, and engage volunteers from the community while training them, as most of the challenges are solved through their participation.
“The tribal population does not readily accept healthcare providers and services, so to help them gain their trust and confidence, organize two or three free medical health camps and provide them with general check-ups,” the recommendations noted.
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