Letter from Ganiyari.
Loading...
Date
2016-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The forest is called Achanakmar. For non-Hindi-speaking friends,
this would roughly translate into ‘being struck, suddenly’. Can
you think of a name more theatrical, formidable? I am not sure
how many in or around the forest have been ‘struck’ by animals
from this wildlife sanctuary. Close by, in the gentler surrounds of
Ganiyari, Chhattisgarh; the tribal Baigas, Gonds, Abhuj Maria
and many others are being struck with far more regularity and
finality by something else. We would like to believe that what is
striking them is disease; in some ways it is. Yet, what is truly
striking them, I believe, is poverty. And apathy. This is a remote,
rural, neglected region of India, which is difficult to reach and
impossible to remember once one arrives in New Delhi and gets
consumed by the more important and urgent calls of life.
The local population is chronically malnourished. Life is hard
and regular employment difficult to come by. Many families carry
the toll of alcoholism. The favoured spirits are derived locally
from the Mahua tree. Men and women are equally afflicted.
Families often tend to be large with five or more children not being
unusual. If under such circumstances, disease strikes, the blow
can be fatal. Diseases are rampant. Tuberculosis and diabetes may
be the star attractions but anaemia, infections, infestations,
deficiency syndromes, sickle cell disease, bites, stings and every
other disease one can think of, jostle for attention.
If one looks around for the available public healthcare for the
indigenous population, one is not surprised. There is almost
nothing. These people do not matter and we are too busy and
important to be bothered about them. So people continue to fall
sick, suffer and die. God forbid, they show a little spunk and try
getting treatment in one of the private clinics or hospitals at the
nearby Bilaspur or the slightly further Raipur. There is a high
likelihood of them then falling into an endless spiral of debt from
which they might never recover.
Enter Jan Swasthya Sahyog or JSS (Fig. 1). Each word in this
name is meaningful. A few bold, committed and extremely
unusual doctors initiated the project more than a decade ago.
Spend a few days at JSS and what impresses you is how rooted the
idea is in the local community and how organically the community
connects with it. Each one is an equal stakeholder. Taking one
person’s name here would mean disrespecting the hundreds of
others. The founder doctors had the audacity to not only conceive
such a project but have also dedicated their lives bringing their
vision to fruition. The community in its response surpasses my
Description
Keywords
Citation
Singh Mamta Bhushan. Letter from Ganiyari. National Medical Journal of India. 2016 May-Jun; 29(3): 171.