HEALTH ISSUES: VILLAGE STAY IN DUGHAR, ALLAHABAD

Poverty, ignorance, health, development, peace, progress and prosperity are intricately inter-twined. The rural life is, invariably, marred by the complexities associated with either of or all of them. The life in village is surely peaceful by and large, and very closely knit; villagers are generally good, nice and innocent; however, over-burdened with the consequences of poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, neglect and exploitation. The Village Dughara, where I, along with Jenu Devan, Ashwini and Ramya Bharati, stayed was no different. Dughara is situated to the south of Allahabad and at about 55 km, and falls under Koraon Block. Since Allahabad District falls under rice growing region; understandably, rice had been planted and the village fields were being swathed by the matured rice stalks growing luxuriantly. The climatic conditions are apt for the crop. So, from a distance, the vast stretch of fields around the village gave an appearance of a smooth green carpet; it was certainly a delight to eyes!
Meanwhile, as we entered the village, the reality unfolded before us. Residents were surviving on bare minimum civic amenities. Dilapidated and crowded houses made of heap of bricks, suffocating lanes, unhygienic and choked drains, erratic and scanty water-supply, uncanny electricity, among others greeted us. The state of their poverty was such that they couldn’t even imagine of saving a portion of their income for addressing or fulfilling other basic needs like health concerns, education of their children and small little luxuries such as new clothes, visits to fairs or towns. The following excerpt conveys it all:
“……………What do I tell you, Saab? We are worried mostly about meeting our needs. So, as long as we are able to work, go to field, we consider ourselves fit and healthy also. Even though we know we have a problem or illness, we deliberately ignore or postpone it till the time it makes us bed-ridden. We don’t have enough money to go to hospital or medical and get the treatments. Other people say that medicines are available for free in Primary Health Centre (PHC), but there is no PHC in our village, whereas many private clinics are operating in nearby areas. These private clinics charge very high amount for just check-up and prescribe very expensive as well as huge medicines. We, poor, how and where do we get the money to get all these- the treatment and the medicines? Sir, tell me. The block headquarter, Koraon, is about 15 km from the village. Going to Koraon itself, we think so many times. Firstly, we either lose our one day wage or miss a day’s work in our field or end up spending a considerable amount from our little savings. Secondly, the staff, including nurses and doctors, is very unfriendly and arrogant to us in government hospitals. Most of the times, doctors aren’t available or come very late. As a result, we generally avoid going to hospitals, be it to private clinics or government hospitals in towns. In any case, we require money which, unfortunately, but truly, we can’t afford to.

What a poor man only thinks about, knows and does every now and then is sufficiently filling the hungry stomachs of himself and the family members. And if we are able to do that, we consider that we’ve done our duty fairly well, though we know it’s not sufficient; our responsibilities far exceed than these. Regrettably, this is what we can and are able to do at present under the prevailing circumstances. We look up to the government for turning around our life. But again, not all the government officials are sympathetic to our hardships. Panchayat leaders are influenced mainly by party-affiliation and very frequently indulge in corruption due to close links they enjoy with the government officials.”
The villagers’ perception about being healthy was being free from any disease, sickness or illness. Good diet, cleanliness and hygiene were secondary to their life, though they were gradually becoming aware of the benefits as well as harmful consequences of cleanliness, hygiene and unhygienic conditions respectively. Essentially, the poverty has driven them to the extent of complete neglect of their bare minimum physical health needs. Therefore, for them, being healthy meant being barely strong-enough to go to field and work or until it is acutely, unbearably painful and severely bed-ridden. Seriously, majority of the villagers were thin, without enough flesh on their body, network of veins and nerves vividly visible through their thin and wrinkled skin. They were definitely nutrient-deficient. Nevertheless, they had very hardy body. Similarly, the children and women were no better, rather, in certain cases, their conditions seemed much worse, worrisome and pathetic. Children, including infants, were not getting proper nourishment, as could be understood sufficiently from the villagers own words or concluded otherwise also from their extent of poverty. Ever since the much-talked about Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has been introduced in the primary school, Dughara village has also benefited hugely. Villagers have been sending their children to school of late. This sudden change wasn’t obviously because of any enlightenment or love for education as such, but because their wards would get food, books for free and a monthly stipend, which would pacify the family problems greatly. Anyways, SSA has come as a great relief and boon for poor villagers and definitely has been supplementing the diets of the poor children ever since then. An Anganwadi in the village has also been started. The Anganwadi worker, a female, would impart and give elementary education to small kids followed by cooked food items to address the problem of child malnutrition.
In addition, an ANM would visit the village once every week to take stock of any lactating or pregnant mothers and would provide them with necessary information, including guidance and help. Besides, an ASHA activist, appointed from the village under the NRHM program would attend to any minor diseases complaint by the villagers, and would report the same to the higher authorities. Until recently, women suffered silently and had, hardly, anyone to share their agonies, especially problems related to menstrual cycle, pregnancy and the like. Though things haven’t changed much, the services rendered by ANM, ASHA activist and Anganwadi worker have collectively reduced considerably their grievances.
To conclude, the health issues in Dughara village are profound, and concerted efforts are required to spread awareness. Drinking water is another problem in the village. Villagers use water from water-pumps directly for consumption. Hopefully, things will get better in near future.