Hasib Ahmed
Motherhood is the pious and greatest gift of God. But this gift of god has become fatal for the expectant mothers of Bhadarwah. The health sector of this remote area of the state is completely in shambles. The mother and child care facilities are at the mercy of God. In this Sub-divisional hospital there is not even a single Gynaecologist due to which expectant mothers have to travel 30 KM to reach District Hospital Doda at their own risk during acute pain. These expectant mothers become a casualty due to the non-serious attitude of the State Government. Due to this an expectant mother who is likely to give life another human being is facing herself a constant fear of losing her own life along with her unborn child. Tall claim of the Govt to ensure Right to Health has been exposed by the sorry state of health care at Bhadarwah. Mother’s Day is celebrated merely as a ritual with fervour and gaiety by forgetting its duty towards the motherhood. The celebration of this day has a purpose to remind and educate the people about the role of mothers in the family and society where except this relation every relation is selfish and reciprocal. Lofty ideas are shared in the seminars and debates upon the female related issues but how these hollow slogans and ideas are materialised at the ground level can be seen by the fact that they are denied even those facilities which becomes life threat for aspirant mothers.
This stretch of Doda-Bhadarwah road like the entire National Highway 1B is also vulnerable to landslides whenever a little rainfall takes place and adds agony and pain to the expectant mothers if they are referred to Doda hospital during that time. A newly hospital building with better infrastructure has been constructed but it is without human resource. Patients have to move 60 KM to Kishtwar to get Ultrasound. Poor people find economic hardship when they are forced to move Doda or Jammu for child delivery. This negligence on the part of government has created anger and bitterness among the people. People have highlighted this genuine demand many times but each time we get only patient hearing. It is unfortunate that in this 21st Centuary we are not demanding sophisticated treatment or robot surgery but just a good doctor. We are denied even that. People of this area have to move either Doda or Jammu even for treatment by involving huge money.
Irony is that the state was ranked first in health care facilities and I fail to understand on which basis these ranking are made. They are befooling the people of entire world by showing the misleading picture of health scenario of the state. They should know that merely the papers records do not ensure right to health they should do beyond the riding of paper horses. It has put a question mark upon the veary purpose of encouraging institutional delivery through National Rural Health Mission. Much is talked about NRHM but the ugly face of health sector at this hilly region can’t not be removed by this scheme. There are 37 posts sanctioned in this hospital but only 15 posts have been filled by leaving 22 posts vacant. Two posts of Grade-B Gynaecologists sanctioned are vacant. We have two posts in each of B-Grade Surgeon, B-grade Physician and B-Grade Pathologists but all are vacant. We have sanction of one post each in B-Grade Dental surgeon and B- Grade ENT, B-Grade Opth, B-Grade Radiologist and Assistant Surgeon Blood Bank but all these are vacant. There are two posts of B-Grade Anaesthetic sanctioned but only one filled leaving one vacant. There are 17 posts of Medical Officers sanctioned in this hospital but only 9 have been filled by keeping 8 posts vacant. There are two sanctioned posts of B-Grade Paediatrician both are filled but one has been attached to District Hospital Doda as if there is no need of it at our Bhadarwah. There are only two categories of post where there is no vacancy and these are also available. These are B-Grade Orthopaedic and Dental surgeon.
It is not merely a denial of medical aid to the female but it shows the attitude of our Government towards the female. Hence this Bhadarwah of J&K has become the area where motherhood has become suicidal and is weeping for its due share because to become a mother here is the invitation for death for the aspirant mothers.
(The author is Research Scholar of Economics at University of Jammu)
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