Patricia Mukhim
The Health Sector
Those who read the daily newspapers cannot miss the reports from the 108 GVK EMRI ambulances. Almost every single day a child is born in these ambulances. What does this say about the state of our Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs)? Why are they not able to halt the number of expectant mothers from rushing to Shillong’s Ganesh Das Hospital for delivery and that when are already in labour ? Health sub-centres in the distant villages are supposed to have at least a midwife that can help with normal delivery. PHCs are supposed to have a doctor, some nurses and attendants, proper labour room facilities and an operation theatre in case Caesarian Section is required to be performed. CHCs are supposed to have some specialist doctors and to be able to handle deliveries without any hassle. The truth is that most doctors do not reside in the living quarters provided near the PHCs and CHCs but prefer travel to and from their residences in Shillong, especially if a PHC is only a one or two hour drive away. Hence if a delivery case comes in late at night or at dawn the CHC/PHC is without a doctor. Women in labour know this too well hence they prefer to come to Ganesh Das, Shillong. As a result, the doctors and nurses at Ganesh Das are over-burdened and therefore on a short fuse. It is not easy to be kind and compassionate when you are stressed out and unable to meet the daily grind without sufficient human resource and adequate infrastructure. One wonders why the Health Minister does not take stock of the over-all situation. Why are PHCs and CHCs not functioning to their optimum? What is ailing Ganesh Das Hospital today and why is NEIGRIHMS unable to take some of the load as far as Gynaecology cases are concerned?
Without constant vigilance slackness creeps into the system and things can go awry for those looking at accessing health care from Government PHCs and CHCs. It is important to also remember that the Health Insurance provided by the Government is not a cure-all. There are ailments not covered under the scheme and if one is a chronic patient requiring sustained medical care the Health Insurance Scheme would not address the problem. It is critical that the health infrastructure functions and functions well right at the level of the Sub-Centres. A robust mechanism for checking the availability of doctors is important. In this connection the Dorbar Shnong should keep a vigilant eye and report to the proper authorities a doctor’s absence from duty or his/her unwillingness to attend to a woman in labour. The 108 ambulances are not meant to serve as mobile labour rooms. Nor can they handle post delivery complications. That this is not taken seriously by those in Government should be a matter of public concern and we should be raising our voices against this.
And the worst case scenario is that in Meghalaya we don’t even know how many mothers die at childbirth or immediately after that, due to complications. In 2015-16 there are no statistics on maternal mortality (MMR) in Meghalaya. Hence we don’t know how many hundreds of mother’s died of childbirth and post delivery complications every year. This is not acceptable. I wonder why the women MLAs including those who flaunt their PhDs inside the Assembly don’t care about this issue of life and death? What’s the point of a PhD if such grievous matters relating to helpless women don’t shake them out of their urban complacency?
Assembly Affairs
Let’s face facts. Not all our elected representatives can speak the Queen’s English and they need not be apologetic about that or be made the laughing stock for failing to answer questions raised by their English speaking colleagues. In recent times there have been several public demonstrations about giving the much needed thrust to the Khasi and Garo languages so that they are included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and become recognised languages. If MLAs do not speak Khasi and Garo in the Assembly then how do they expect anyone to take them seriously about the resolution they passed for recognition of the two languages? And didn’t the PhD holder also speak Khasi in the Assembly earlier this year? What the Assembly needs are interpreters who are fluent in three languages – Khasi, Garo and English.
It’s good to aspire to have educated MLAs and MDCs, even educated Syiems and Rangbah Shnongs. But without a constitutional amendment, that aspiration is futile. As of today anyone can contest the elections to the State Assembly and District Councils. So let’s get real. Moreover, villagers feel more free to interact with someone who can relate to their woes than representatives who have been suited and booted all their lives and enter the Assembly for purposes other than public service. An educated person does not necessarily deliver the goods. Nor are compassion and commitment to public service the attributes of the educated only. On the contrary we have witnessed how the educated have taken this state for a joyride for 46 years. Those who have ruled Meghalaya know that the State needs cogent policies and clearly stated goals in order to reach somewhere. And to repeat what was stated above, if we don’t even have crucial statistics such as for MMR and IMR in the Health sector then we have not even begun to follow the path of human development.
Let’s also face another truth: Some highly educated ministers have been running the Agriculture & Horticulture Department in the past but the only increase we have seen is not in the crop yield or remuneration of farmers. The increase is only in the number of vendors who have almost taken over the Departments. There are vendors for fertilisers, for pesticides, for seeds, for agricultural equipments and for every requirement under the Agricultural sun. With a change in government the vendors will be out in the cold hence all the scientific mumbo-jumbo that the farmers hardly understand will now be replaced by real agriculture as they understand it. Farmers need better wholesale and retail outlets, better soil health and what will address their problems to a large extent is if they are able to form Farmers’ Producers Organisations (FPOs). If they can do this, the ugly phenomenon of the middleman will be eliminated. There’s a huge gap between the rate at which farmers sell their produce and the rates at which we buy them from the market. This gap has to narrow down and the benefits ought to flow to the farmers. That is basically what the Agriculture Department needs to be doing instead of resorting to hi-fi scientific jargon.
Traffic Woes in Shillong and beyond:
Successive governments have failed to discipline the elite schools in the city which contribute the most to traffic jams and also add to the pollution levels (suspended particulate matter). This in turn affects all of us. More than one District Administrator has tried to engage the principals of these schools but they have rebuffed the idea of school buses on flimsy pretexts; the easiest one being that there is no parking space in the school campuses. But the schools refuse to open their eyes to the fact that cars for picking up their students take up public space by the roadside. This Government needs to come down heavily on schools that refuse to cooperate in trimming down the number of vehicles on the road. And as far as Traffic Policing is concerned the higher-ups are never seen on the streets because they are probably monitoring traffic on their display screens. Concealed policing is never a good idea. The Traffic Police Chief must be seen on the roads and highways. Policing is not about paper work and desk jobs. It’s about making a difference in the real world. If the Conrad Government can streamline just this one pernicious problem then it would have made a lot of difference to our lives. Of course there may be other strategies for reducing wheels on the road but let’s begin by illustrating that schools should conform to rules applicable across the country.
Tailpiece : Meghalaya is known as the Festival State. Can we find out what happens after the series of festivals are over? Is it all about short term ecstasy with vendors once again walking away with profits? Or is there any palpable change in youth behaviour? Is the state doing enough to fight drug addiction?