This is nothing new in Uttarakhand and the pathetic news relating to health services are self explanatory. We are talking about the deteriorating health services in Uttarakhand. Right from increasing fatal road accidents to the cases of man eater brutal killings to deaths due to lack of treatment or shortages of doctors or adequate treatment in interior hospitals or in towns due to various reasons have become the order of the day.
This can be gauged from the fact that the ministers and senior bureaucrats seek treatment in super speciality hospitals of Delhi and Gurugram while the poor, hapless patients suffering from various ailments, including critical illnesses are left to suffer badly for want of adequate cure , treatments in government hospitals, health centres etc.
There have been several cases of infants dying and pregnant women suffering from timely adequate deliveries for want of ambulances n some delivering babies of the way while being carried to hospitals or due to lack of doctors or sufficient treatments.
The lack of ambulance services of 108 in the interior villages with several of them lying faulty or defunct n non availability of fuel etc have led to several casualties of pregnant women and infants as well.
These four clippings published in various newspapers of Uttarakhand pertaining to sorry state of affairs of the health system, unambiguously give startling revelations like the 108 ambulance services lying standstill for the last two weeks in Lohaghat area of Kumaon division and due to lack of adequate medical facilities the patients suffering from shortage of platelets compelled to go to Bijnaur or Dehradun from Kotdwar etc. Another news headline says : As the pregnant woman loses breath, the happiness of a new infant turns into tragedy. Another headline reveals : 19 infants out of 1000 die due to not getting medical treatment in UK etc. This news has been dispatched from Haldwani, district Nainital.
Pictures of villagers lifting pregnant women, old aged and those suffering from illness including accidental victims ferrying them to local hospitals or health centres on cots, wooden carriages or palanquins due to non availability of roads covering several kilometres walking, up and down on challenging mountainous ranges are common features. Another report reveals that the Gynacology department of Dr. Sushila Tiwari district hospital in Haldwani has only four gynacologists ( specialists) out of twenty three resulting in the death rate of mother infants. The question being posed by an enlightened citizen Ganesh Joshi is What will be the fate of Uttarakhand. Who’d be held accountable? Another angered social activists of Uttarakhand Sobifty Gairola tweeted : We are badly annoyed and wishing ill luck for the government n leaders of Uttarakhand. She said that there should be the case of “Hatya”, on the leaders of Uttarakhand obviously referring to the tragic death of a pregnant woman.
After twenty two years of attaining separate Uttarakhand status with 46 precious sacrifices, the overall socio economic, health and political scenario of Uttarakhand seems to be in doldrums with its fiscal deficit equally the state’s annual budget. Though the state claims to have allocated Rs 3,438. 84crores budget, 5.12% of the total budget to health sector, the situation still seems to be awry with people suffering adversely and patients dying witnessing not so satisfactory outcome in terms of the performances in view of shortage of doctors, surgeons, medicines, medical equipments, ambulances, paramedics and the will to act strongly and effectively.
