By Aditya Zutshi and Sehej Buttar, Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur, EVERY ONE youth campaigner
Photo: Nilayan for Save the Children
But in West Bengal, at least nine districts in the state suffer from arsenic contamination of groundwater, and an estimated 8.7 million people drink water containing arsenic above the World Health Organisation recommended limit of 10 µg/L.
According to WHO statistics there are over 250 medical colleges in the modern system of medicine and over 400 in the Indian system of medicine and homeopathy (ISM&H). India produces over 250,000 doctors annually in the modern system of medicine and a similar number of ISM&H practitioners, nurses and para professionals.
But still India suffers from high levels of disease including Malaria, and Tuberculosis where one third of the world’s tuberculosis cases are in India . In addition, India along with Nigera, Pakistan and Afghanistan is one of the four countries worldwide where polio has not as yet been eradicated. Half of children in India are underweight, one of the highest rates in the world and nearly same as Sub-Saharan Africa. India contributes to about 5.6 million child deaths every year, more than half the world's total. According to the World Health Organization 900,000 Indians die each year from drinking contaminated water and breathing in polluted air. Most Indian women are malnourished. The average female life expectancy today in India is low compared to many countries and in many families, especially the rural ones, the girls and women face nutritional discrimination within the family, and are anaemic and malnourished. The maternal mortality in India is the second highest in the world. Only 42% of births in the country are supervised by health professionals. Most women deliver with help from women in the family who often lack the skills and resources to save the mother's life if it is in danger. According to UNDP Human Development Report (1997), 88% of pregnant women (age 15-49) were found to be suffering from anemia. Water supply and sanitation in India continues to be abysmal. Only one of three Indians has access to improved sanitation facilities. As of 2003, it was estimated that only 30% of India's wastewater was being treated, with the remainder flowing into rivers or groundwater. The lack of toilet facilities in many areas also presents a major health risk; open defecation is widespread even in urban areas of India, and it was estimated in 2002 by the World Health Organisation that around 700,000 Indians die each year from diarrhoea. No city in India has full-day water supply. Most cities supply water only a few hours a day. In towns and rural areas the situation is even worse.
What is the organizational structure of the governing body? The Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) Department is organized into a number of directorates whose work is monitored and coordinated by the H&FW Department by the Health Secretary. The department functions under the overall guidance of the Minister-in-charge, Dr. Surya Kanta Misra. The State Health Administration has two arms, the Secretariat and the Directorate of Health. The Secretariat is headed by the Principal Secretary who is a senior officer of the Indian Administrative Service assisted by Special, Joint, Deputy and Assistant Secretaries. The Director of Health Services and ex-officio Secretary heads the Directorate and is the chief technical Advisor to the State government on all matters related to medical and public health. He is assisted by a number of Additional, Joint, Deputy and Assistant Directors. The heath care system has primary health care network, a secondary care system comprising district and sub-division hospitals and tertiary hospitals providing specialty and super specialty care. Each of the seventeen districts is headed by a Chief Medical Officer of Health (C.M.O.H.), assisted by Deputy and Assistant C.M.O.H.s, whose responsibility is to manage the primary health care sector and ensure the effective implementation of the various medical, health and family welfare programmes. The secondary level hospitals are headed by medically trained superintendents who report to the C.M.O.H. and are accountable to a hospital management committee. At the block level, the Block medical officer is responsible for providing services and for monitoring and supervising the primary health centres and health programme implementation. The medical manpower in the State Health System is provided by the State Health Service and in the teaching institutions by the Medical Education Service. The training activities are mainly organised at the Institute of Health & Family Welfare, Salt Lake, Kolkata, and also at various training schools.
Even though the situation is abysmal, there is hope. The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Rules, 1951 mentions that no license for clinical establishment shall be granted unless the licensing authority is satisfied that the applicant and the Clinical Establishment fulfils the conditions mentioned in the Act. All operations should be performed in a fixed centre having OT facilities. The licensee for a temporary camp shall be valid for one month from the date of issue of the license.The license for such temporary camp shall be renewed in any circumstance. West Bengal Nursing Personnel Rules, 2008 assures that no nursing personal will be allowed to undergo studies as training reserve in any manner other than sponsored as per the rules. The Regulation and Prevention of Misuse Amendment Act 2002 prohibits sex selection, before or after conception to prevent their misuse for sex determination, leading to female foeticide and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The West Bengal Prohibition of Smoking , Spiting and Protection of Health of Non Smokers and Minor act 2001, State Drug Policy of West Bengal in 2004, Tobacco Law in 2003, West Bengal Registration of Births and Deaths (State Rule 2000) are some of the laws introduced to address some of the health issues.
There are so many problems to tackle and so many issues to resolve. But then the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step... In this case, we the dynamic and aware youth are the travelers. We remember a few stanzas from Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome song...
We shall overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome someday
Darlin' here in my heart, yeah I do believe
We shall overcome someday
Well we'll walk hand in hand, we'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand someday
Darlin' here in my heart, yeah I do believe
We'll walk hand in hand someday
Well we shall live in peace, we shall live in peace
We shall live in peace someday
Darlin' here in my heart, yeah I do believe
We shall live in peace someday
Yes... We do believe... we shall overcome someday... !!!
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