The recent memorandum to the Governor by the Naga Mothers Association (NMA) on the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission in Nagaland wherein allegations of “glaring anomalies, financial irregularities and conflict of interest” has been brought to public notice, this is something that needs to be looked into. The NMA has demanded a High Level Inquiry on all issues that has been raised in the memorandum. It is anybody’s guess on whether the allegations are true or not but the concern Department of Health & Family Welfare has remained silent till now. Perhaps the government should be allowed to respond to the points raised in the memorandum.
The NRHM is another major centrally sponsored scheme implemented all across the country. Being an ambitious programme with massive funding to the tune to several hundred crores of rupees for each State alone, it should not come as a surprise when we hear of wide spread corruption taking place. Without going into the technicalities of the long list of charges, what is needed is to correct any shortcomings and ensure a transparent and effective health delivery service under NRHM Nagaland, as rightly stated by the NMA. This brings us to the issue of the health care infrastructure in India as well as Nagaland, which we must admit is in doldrums. Even the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has put on record the stark inequalities in the Indian healthcare system and the need for urgent correction. After all we must come to the realization that the right to basic health care and service is a human right.
As rightly observed by the NHRC it is paradoxical that on one side, we have super specialty medical centres which cater to the needs of patients requiring specialized and speedy treatment and on the other hand, a very large number of our population remains deprived of basic medical facilities and healthcare. This also holds true in the case of Nagaland and despite decades of Statehood there has been no visible improvement in the area of health care both infrastructure and manpower availability. All of us know that in general our government run hospitals are in such bad condition and whether they are worthy of our time and investment. A recent media report also points to the shortage of doctors in Nagaland. So you see, the need to make health care accessible to all remains a daunting task for the State. We have to also remember that as a basic human right, the right to health is not only about access to healthcare and building hospitals but should include safe food, safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, education, gender equality besides improving the living condition of children.
Coming back to the state of our healthcare system, reports have come out that the Medical Council of India (MCI) proposes 300 colleges to produce rural doctors. In other words these medical colleges will provide education to rural students and deploy them there to provide basic healthcare facilities to villagers. According to the MCI there are around 300 districts in India where there are no medical colleges and therefore the proposal to have a medical college in each of these districts to train rural health workers. With the people-doctor ratio six times lower in rural India than cities, the latest proposal to produce lakhs of rural health workers is a step in the right direction. There is no doubt that Nagaland also deserves one medical college. The present government is also pushing for this. However at the end of the day if irregularities and corruption continue to plague us, then nothing will work even if we recruit expensive manpower or install big projects.
