Right to safemotherhood - an elusive dream

Gwalior , December 12, 2006

Village Sarari Khurd, Sheopur - has a primary health centre but no doctor. Since when it does not have doctor, even villagers can’t remember the same. The centre is opened by hardly fours days a week by local nurse. It neither has any facility nor any equipments and hardly has been cleaned ever. This is not the situation of one health centre, 20 kilometers of Sarari Khurd is Karahal. Karahal has community health centre. Though it opens every day but three positions out of the four to be posted there, are vacant. Karahal block officially has a facility of mobile health van to reach out to inaccessible areas. But it has just one mobile health van. If the same works daily it will reach the same village after a gap of 35 days (please note if it works daily).

District has population of app. 6 lakhs residing in 533 villages. It has one district hospital with a capacity of 175 beds. In the 175 bedded hospital, 150 beds have never being changed since last 15 years. Though state is pushing institutional delivery but districts like Sheopur hardly have any infrastructure to match the same push. Number of beds in labour ward remain same, neither the position of gynecologist, lying vacant has been recruited, medicines are always in shortage. In situation like this big question is that how can mothers get right to safe motherhood – a right which needs to be demanded in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

Adapted from op-ed published in Acharan, Gwalior December 12, 2006