Odisha, WB are laggards
- Odisha has only 29.4% houses with improved sanitation
- In West Bengal, 20.3% children are wasted
- IMR: 44 (Odisha) 25 (WB)
Source: NFHS 2015-16, SRS
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The sun, they say, has been setting on India바카라s east. It has caught up with the benighted north, in terms of the acronym that was meant to connote sickness: BIMARU status. The little girl doesn바카라t know all this. All she knows is that her cot has bedbugs. And that rats are scuttling between the beds. Her mother sleeps on the floor, with the rodents and mites. Hassan Haji, a 30-year-old farmer from Hooghly, had first taken his four-year-old girl to a local clinic, but they couldn바카라t diagnose why she had excruciating stomach pain. The two-hour journey to Calcutta brought a new kind of 바카라nightmare바카라바카라but also salvation.
Here, in Nilratan Sarkar Hospital, there바카라s anger, hurt and ultimately resignation to every horror. 바카라You바카라re lucky your daughter got a bed,바카라 says Enait Younus, a young labourer from Howrah. His two-year-old son, bleeding from the nose, was crammed onto a bed with others. Come dawn, men pace nervously on the dusty lawns outside. Fathers, grandpas, uncles바카라males spend their night under the open sky. Women jostle on the ward floor. But they바카라re all relieved바카라their kids are in good hands. Hassan바카라s daughter바카라s pain has subsided. Enait바카라s son바카라s nosebleed has stopped.
What conclusion can be drawn: that even if offered in squalor, the quality of childcare has improved? There are other times to recall, days and nights of death. People can바카라t forget September 2013, when 35 children died within five days in the east바카라s biggest referral hospital바카라BC Roy Children바카라s Hospital, Calcutta. Nor the nine newborns dying in just 26 hours in Malda바카라s Medical College and Hospital. The latter gained notoriety for the highest number of crib deaths in Bengal, by some estimates 500, in 2011-12.
Shishu Bhawan, Cuttack
Odisha too has deteriorated over the years. From an average of 11 doctors for one lakh people in 2009-10, it바카라s dipped to just eight by 2014-15. The primary health care system, especially in remote tribal districts, is itself in a critical condition. And even secondary/tertiary hospitals, which have the best doctors and facilities, see a high rate of deaths. Take Odisha바카라s premier paediatrics hospital, SVPPGIP in Cuttack, better known as Shishu Bhavan. In August- September 2015, nearly 60 children died here in just two months. What could be cause for further notoriety? The revelation that over 5,900 children had died here in the five preceding years! No wonder all hell broke loose, with a flurry of inquiries.
But there are redeeming facets to the story on both sides of the border. Malda hit the headlines during Mamata Banerjee바카라s first term. With her second term, Calcutta바카라s children바카라s hospitals do reveal 바카라poriborton바카라. Doctors say they are perennially 바카라on guard바카라. Didi has issued strict instructions: there must be no neglect. She is known for surprise visits that make hospital managers quiver. B.C. Roy바카라s premises are swept and washed and smell of disinfectant. 바카라We try our best,바카라 a doctor confides. The root cause remains untreated, though. 바카라There바카라s a severe shortage of staff,바카라 he says. 바카라From doctor to janitor.바카라 As twilight falls, Hassan and Enait spread out their mats and prepare to face the mosquitoes, rats and bats바카라lucky enough within this frame.
A nameless adivasi woman, from Sarigeta village in Odisha바카라s Malkangiri district, was lucky too. Heavy blood loss during childbirth had put her in serious danger. And not even the Hippocratic oath obliged the young doctor to do what he did. He lent his shoulder to carry her over eight km, all the way to Papulur hospital. The state was inspired enough to institute the Gopabandhu award for doctors who go beyond the call of duty바카라Dr Omkar Hota, naturally, would get it first. But that such awards exist is itself a kind of indictment of the vacuum the State has left out there.
READ ALSO: What바카라s Best For The Kid?
No less than 3,119 of the 6,536 doctors바카라 posts in government hospitals are vacant; and 156 rural hospitals have no doctors at all! This June, Tentulikhunti in Nabrangpur district was witness to an unusual scene. The whole village was out to bid a tearful adieu to Dr Kishore Chandra Das as he prepared to leave to pursue a post-graduate degree in orthopaedics. Nearly everyone cried and hugged the doctor바카라more proof, if any was needed, that a creaking system hobbled by personnel shortage depends crucially on individual benefactors. In 2006-16, the infant mortality rate dipped dramatically바카라from 73 to 44. Still among India바카라s highest.
By Dola Mitra in Calcutta and Sandeep Sahu in Cuttack
