World Health Day

KANPUR: The irony cannot be grimmer than the fact that yet again the health fraternity of the city will be gearing up to raise a toast on Tuesday on the World Health Day, while thousands of patients have been deprived of timely treatment even after coming to the doorstep of the health centres.
While the World Health Day 2009 focusses on safety of health facilities and the readiness of health workers who treat the victims of emergencies, city's majority of hospitals and health centres do not even possess emergency ambulance services exposing the illpreparedness of the health authorities in tackling any untoward situation.
For the Kanpur City, which has a population over 50 lakh, there is no record of bedding facilities, doctors and paramedical staff and ambulances in any of the hospitals, not to mention that of prompt and quick medical aid to patients coming to the health centres.
Officiating city medical officer (CMO) Dr A Nagaych, however, claims: "As per the needs of the city, we should pay more attention to the quality of medical treatment other than concentrating on the quantity."
As per the available government records, in comparison to the number of hospital beds in the city, the population of Kanpur has been increasing on a much faster pace, which amounts to 35,22,257 in 1994, 41,37,489 lakh in 2001 and more than 46,00,000 lakh by 2008.
The conditions of the city-based private nursing homes are no better. As per the records of the health department, there are as many as 199 nursing homes. However, there is no exact figure of beds at these nursing homes.
If the government health officials are to be believed, at no time did the city ever meet the prescribed norms of WHO of five beds per 1,000 population. If the situation in Kanpur is anything to go by, the health facilities are even worse in rural areas.
The scarcity of beds even in private sector means that with government hospitals already grappling with problems like staff shortage and patient rush, for the common man medical care is progressively getting more and more expensive and inaccessible.
Additional director health Dr SK Singh attempts to boast about the well-equipped health facilities provided to the denizens under government set-up. "As per the records of the facilities of hospitals are concerned, the data differs from one hospital to another. Otherwise, the health department is equipped with advanced machines, infrastructure and treatments to handle any sort of emergency," he claims.
What with the resident doctors most of the time engaged in violence activities and protests in order to get their demands agreed upon, the patients coming to hospitals keep grappling for timely medical aid. In addition, there is an acute staff crunch of doctors and paramedical staff in all city government hospitals.
"It is not in the city alone, but the doctor crunch is being witnessed by almost every hospital across the country. This is the reason why there is only one doctor per 10,000 population," pointed out superintendent-in-chief, LLR hospital, Dr VN Tripathi.
Thus, even as the World Health Day will mark several awareness campaigns and drives, one thing will get abundantly clear: Even in the industrial hub, health and medical aid is poised to become an issue of concern in the years to come.