Health on life support

IN Haryana, the government has thrown the book at the striking National Health Mission workers. Much of India has not heard of these underpaid health workers who play a critical role in Bharat. Yet, she gets a pittance of Rs 250 for attending to the maternal-neonatal-paediatric care cycle. She does a lot more, some say too much: vaccinating and surveying for policy formulation. The Haryana Government may have a point: Paid voluntarism has devolved into professional trade unionism.  There is no knowing where this will end up; perhaps as permanent government employees. There is a measure of insincerity and pretense in governmental reactions. The unassuming health workers are the first and, often, the last line of defence in rural healthcare. No less than PM Modi recognised their grassroot networking and message dissemination ability when he announced a hefty hike in the salaries of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers on the eve of Gujarat elections. Haryana needs to look no further than the PM’s home state.

The National Capital Region, on the other hand, is in a different kind of health-inflicted throes. Corporate hospital chains, some of the best addresses for considerate healthcare, have been found neck-deep in Shylockian techniques. The Delhi Government has cancelled the licence of a five-star hospital. That is a slight loss of business for the chain and will drag the state into a complicated legal rigmarole. The private hospitals do not really care for public opinion because the entire Indian elite flock to them for their ailments. 

The Haryana Government has managed to sour its ties with most departments of public interface: guest teachers, roadways and now health workers. But its attitude to health workers mirrors the mindset of the economically entrenched in other states. Nepal’s health indicators are better because it also respects its frontline health staff. On the other hand, the private hospitals’ familiarity with the political and bureaucratic elite has helped insert them into the power centres. Only a summary booking of the top brass can send a more potent message than cancelling a licence which causes primarily inconvenience to patients.