Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 02 July 2018 | Page 18
COVER STORY
JITENDER GUPTA
PRESSURE POINT Ward 100, the children’s ward in
BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur
less per capita expenditure on social services than any other
state,” says Ajit Kumar Singh, former director, Giri Institute
of Development Studies, Lucknow. Then, putting his finger on
the nub of the issue, he says, “Rural healthcare must improve.
It’s in very bad shape. And the largest population lives there.”
Here, Sharma zeroes in on the PHC as the last point of
healthcare delivery. “It must become a hub, not an adjunct, to
healthcare needs,” he says. “PHCs try to tackle everything from
vaccination to nutrition and get nowhere. We have opened too
many fronts., weakening and fragmenting PHCs as a result.”
Rural healthcare is not big news, unfortunately. It’s easier
to announce six super-specialty hospitals, as the latest state
budget did. It becomes a point of interest briefly only during
polemical comparisons between the social indices of, say, UP
and Kerala. “UP’s case is unique. Its elite, unlike Kerala or
18 OUTLOOK 2 July 2018
Tamil Nadu’s, are indifferent to its masses’ conditions,” says
Singh. That may be a sweeping statement of despair, but some-
thing systemic is surely wrong.
Corruption is not a unique
factor, though UP is no laggard
there. Its primary health funds
come from the Centre, and
we saw the NRHM (National
Rural Health Mission) scam
make for some blood-splat-
tered headlines in 2010. “Once
the Rs 10,000 crore outlay
reached UP, Rs 5,000 crore was
siphoned off! You can imagine
the state of governance,”
Rural healthcare is
not big news. It’s
easier to announce
six super-specialty
hospitals as the
latest Uttar Pradesh
state budget did.