Healthcare for all, a distant dream: Expert

Two-day workshop on tribal health begins in Mysore

"Despite measures we haven’t reached the desirable results in preventing malnutrition, infant mortality and maternal mortality in the country,” said K Suresh, director of Tribal Research and Development Centre, Bhopal.

Maternal mortality is high in the country, especially among the tribes due to a lack of awareness about the diseases they are exposed to, and lack of medical intervention among the population. He was speaking at a two-day national seminar on “Tribal Health in India: Issues and Challenges” organised by Karnataka State Tribal Research Institute here on Monday.

Speaking on the ineffective implementation of health projects in the country, he pointed out at absentism among Asha workers, who are employed by the state government to provide assistance in health care in rural areas. “Instead of randomly hiring people for the role of Asha workers, government should hire local residents of the village. This will not only put an end to absentism but will ensure that government projects reach the beneficiaries.”

C G Hussain Khan, retired professor of Anthropology, delivering the key-note address recalled that India had pledged along with other countries to provide “Health for All” by 2000.

“Though we have overshot the target by almost one and half decades now, there is no sign that we will accomplish this goal of providing proper health care to not only tribes in India, but also to other populations by the end of the fist quarter of the 21st century,” he said. He criticised the system of health care in India and described the approach as ‘too narrow, ‘target-oriented’ and ‘top-down’.

He said that concentrating on only biological determinants, while ignoring the socio-cultural dimensions of health and disease, will deter the effective implementation of  health care.

Talks on ‘Health and Nutritional Status of Tribal Population’, ‘The role of Education in Empowering Tribal Women in India’ and other topics were held during the day.