- PHCs without doctors: 220
- Required 9,332
- Shortfall 7,199
- District hospitals with pediatrician 86.2%
- IMR in Karnataka: 24
Source: DLHS, NFHS, Rural Health Statistics
***
A rush confronts us at Kolar바카라s Sri Narasimharaja (SNR) District Hospital, but that바카라s not unusual. Health cards for the state바카라s universal health coverage scheme, Arogya Karnataka, are being distributed. Besides, patients always stream in here from remote talukas. After infant deaths in Gorakhpur바카라s BRD Medical College, the public glare had fallen on SNR, following reports that many newborn babies had died there. An apt place to revisit, then, for Outlook바카라s national survey of the state of children바카라s healthcare.
What had happened here in August 2017? But first, what does it say about the hinterland?
Many of the same things, in fact, that BRD tells us about Gorakhpur rural. Kolar hugs Bangalore바카라SNR is just shy of 70 km east of it바카라but its human indices have lagged behind the state바카라s for at least two decades. The healthcare void out in the countryside, the incessant referrals, the pressure on this nodal centre...the pattern is identical. Except, SNR seems to be coping better.
바카라Things have improved in the last few years,바카라 says Ramappa, an elderly man waiting to see a doctor for the pain in his joints. Like many others, he recalls the bad shape SNR was in about a decade ago. Recently, a CT scan and MRI machine were set up; work on a new 100-bed mother-and-child block is under way. The typical 바카라government hospital바카라 pallor is there, but things are ticking. When ambulances roll into casualty, the staff is ready with wheelchairs.
바카라It바카라s always crowded because people come from all over. This is the only hospital with scanning facilities,바카라 says Amarnath, an autorickshaw driver, here to sign up for his health card. Veni from Kolar Gold Fields, 30 km away, is here for the first time: her newborn grandchild was referred here for an infection. She바카라s happy with the care.
Being a singular refuge for a population of millions around makes for a near-intolerable degree of pressure. SNR shares this fate with all the other hospitals Outlook scanned across India: having to be like a version of Atlas, holding up the earth. That itself creates problems, many of them chronic.
READ ALSO: What바카라s Best For The Kid?
Severe staff shortage, for one. SNR has three vacant posts for general surgeons. A lone specialist surgeon handles all patients now. 바카라We바카라ve been asking for posts to be filled up,바카라 says district surgeon Santosh Prabha. 바카라Trouble is, not many want to work here because of the high work load.바카라 India바카라s public healthcare is like this almost anywhere바카라a constant run on the only bank in the province, and not enough cash.
Under the circumstances, SNR passes muster. 바카라It was coincidental that three children died the same day last August. That바카라s what triggered the public attention바카라there was no clustering of cases,바카라 says paediatrician B.C. Balasunder, adding that all three babies had 바카라complications바카라. Not atypical. Deaths are not just a sign of crisis. In India, they are also routine.
The Lokayukta gave SNR a clean chit, says Balasunder, noting 바카라there was no lapse on the part of doctors or paramedics바카라. The deaths had raised a fair amount of din; now a State Human Rights Commission inquiry report too is awaited, as a pending reminder, causing some nervousness. For conscientious public health practitioners, it바카라s part of the pressure they cope with.
Over the past year, the numbers of deliveries at SNR have increased: May 2018 recorded over 578. Its 24-bed Neonatal Special Care Unit, accredited by the National Neonatology Forum, handled 5,138 births in the year ending March 2018바카라and saw 57 neonatal deaths. It was 32 out of 4,056 in 2017, with all the usual causes. But Karnataka바카라s infant mortality has declined fast바카라to 24 per 1,000 live births in 2017 from about 35 in 2011. That was the 11th Five Year Plan target for 2012. Morbid business, but counting fewer deaths is a blessing.
By Ajay Sukumaran in Kolar
