Access to Health Care Services-Post Liberalization Era

Post Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Health is one of the most important interventions in the Economic and Social development and improved quality of life of the citizen. The north-eastern state of Assam with the highest maternal deaths in the country has managed to drop its number of maternal deaths in the last few years. However, they continue to be the highest in the country. Assam is grappling with challenges such as difficult terrain and inaccessibility to health services.

Social determinants such as early age of marriage, early and repeated childbearing where 47 per cent of girls marry before the age of 18 are also contributing factors. Early marriage traditions have serious repercussions as girls are more likely to become pregnant at younger and riskier ages.

The Government of India has policies and programs to address delays of decision making, transport and access to services. But challenges remain – vast country, diversity, problems of supplies (drugs, medicines), malfunctioning of equipment, inadequate human resources, inaccessible terrain, religious and socio-cultural factors.

The Social Activists and Lawyers from the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), visited the Sonitpur district and evaluated the functioning of Kanaklata Civil Hospital which is the only civil hospital in Sonitpur, with an objective of analyzing the maternal health situation in Assam.

The team observed that Kanaklata Civil Hospital often fails to provide adequate services to patients. The people are deprived from the basic health care services. Thus, welfare measures are now a more profit driven depriving people from basic health care services. Non implementation of Supreme Court orders on maternal health and non-compliance with provisions of international conventions on health are violations of the people's fundamental rights in the district of Sonitpur. The state’s failure to protect and prevent the maternal health situation gives us a distant dream in achieving the Minimum Development Goal to improve the maternal health situation in the country.

The detailed report of the fact finding is attached.

Contact: Pritisha Borah; pritisha@hrln.org