TURA: A remote region in northern part of Garo Hills that was once plagued with a high death rate from malaria and maternal mortality in the absence of any medical facility with a government institution virtually abandoned, Gabil village has undergone an praiseworthy metamorphosis in less than a decade with not a single maternal or malaria death being registered in the last seven years.
This has been made possible due to the dedicated team of medics who have been operating the government-allotted Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Gabil village for the last eleven years.
The Commissioner and Secretary for Health, P Sampath Kumar, visited the health centre on Thursday to interact with the medical staff and obtain feedback on their work.
Dearth of medicines, medical care and absence of doctors from the government side in station, over 10 years ago, led to a total collapse of the medical system in the area and the inhabitants from 21 villages under Gabil had no option but to trek miles to Anogre, 10 km away on the main highway, to hitch-hike to the nearest health centre, a further distance away.
“For ages, people had no option but to seek treatment from traditional healers in the villages. There were no roads or healthcare facilities. Before Gabil PHC was handed over to us to manage, there were half-a-dozen deaths in a single year across every village under the centre and most of the victims were babies and mothers,” recalled Bakdil NGO director, Fr Sunny Mavelil.
In February, 2009, the state government handed over Gabil PHC to Bakdil NGO on a public-private-partnership (PPP) model of functioning.
At present, Gabil and Wageasi, another PHC run by the NGO in North Garo Hills, have the highest performance chart among all 12 health centres in the district with over 90 per cent of successful institutional delivery in the maternity sector.
“We have had no maternal or malaria deaths in the last seven years,” said Fr Sunny.
One of the major steps for this positive transformation to take place has been a move by the medics to ensure every expectant mother gets admitted ahead of their time of delivery.
“Earlier, pregnant women would come only when the labour pain began. Many times they faced complications due to the distance from the village to the centre. So we developed a system where expectant mothers were brought over and admitted a week before their due date. For the ones facing complications, they would sometimes get admitted weeks ahead to ensure safe delivery,” informed the doctors and nurses during their interaction with Kumar.
They also revealed that there is a high percentage of expectant mothers with extremely low haemoglobin in their blood due to poor nutrition, which causes many complications including death of mother and child during delivery. Awareness on this front has become a major issue for ASHA and Anganwadi workers of the area.
“We also noticed another positive aspect which is health workers diligently ensuring each village participates in the fixed health day in their respective villages each week. This increased the interaction between health teams and the villagers leading to awareness and bonding,” said Sampath Kumar.
Going a step further, the health centre updates its board outside the pharmacy about the availability of the free medicines for patients. This citizen charter has been welcomed by patients, who visit the centre, as it gives them an idea of the kind of medicines they can obtain without having to visit a private pharmacy.
The Gabil region, encircled by forests and poor telecommunication and road communication, also faces frequent power cuts that, at times, go for days and weeks.
With institutional delivery having been made a priority, the centre has only recently put in place a solar energy system to provide emergency power to the health centre with focus on the delivery room.
Recognising the success of the hospital, the state government has provided Gabil with a brand-new ambulance, only recently.
In the words of the health commissioner, “If we can replicate this in other areas and expand this momentum, Garo Hills could be a major health success story in the days to come”.
