With the second surge in some of India’s biggest cities—including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru—forcing state governments to announce short-term lockdowns and mobility restrictions, fears of an additional migrant exodus have arisen. Earlier this week, visuals of an inter-state bus terminus in the national capital bursting at the seams with migrants waiting to catch a bus household seemed to confirm these fears.
While the second surge has largely been an urban phenomenon, migrants moving back to their villages in lakhs dangers carrying the spread to the rural districts in some of India’s poorest states that just do not have the public healthcare infrastructure and human sources to manage this. As the newest Rural Health Survey shows, against the national norm of a sub-centre (SC) serving 5,000 men and women, a main healthcentre (PHC) 30,000 men and women and a neighborhood overall health centre (CHC) serving 1,20,000 in ‘general’ regions (as opposed to ‘hilly or tribal areas’), rural SCs in the nation serve 5,729, PHCs 35,730, and CHCs a whopping 1,71,779.
In Uttar Pradesh, rural CHCs serve almost twice the catchment norm, at more than 2,38,000 men and women. Rural SCs and PHCs in the state serve 1.6 instances and 1.97 instances the norm, respectively. Rural CHCs in West Bengal, similarly, serve populations 1.8 instances bigger than the national norm.
In Bihar, an additional state that sees substantial out-migration, rural CHCs serve catchments that are 15 instances the norm! Rural healthcare centres also endure from a personnel crunch—PHCs, against a sanctioned strength of 35,890 physicians, have just more than 28,000 in position.
The CHCs in the nation are missing 15,775 specialists (surgeons, OB-gyns, physicians and paediatricians). A equivalent shortage of ANMs, radiographers and other healthcare personnel also grips the villages.With the second surge in some of India’s biggest cities—including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru—forcing state governments to announce short-term lockdowns and mobility restrictions, fears of an additional migrant exodus have arisen. Earlier this week, visuals of an inter-state bus terminus in the national capital bursting at the seams with migrants waiting to catch a bus household seemed to confirm these fears. While the second surge has largely been an urban phenomenon, migrants moving back to their villages in lakhs dangers carrying the spread to the rural districts in some of India’s poorest states that just do not have the public healthcare infrastructure and human sources to manage this.
As the newest Rural Health Survey shows, against the national norm of a sub-centre (SC) serving 5,000 men and women, a main healthcentre (PHC) 30,000 men and women and a neighborhood overall health centre (CHC) serving 1,20,000 in ‘general’ regions (as opposed to ‘hilly or tribal areas’), rural SCs in the nation serve 5,729, PHCs 35,730, and CHCs a whopping 1,71,779.
In Uttar Pradesh, rural CHCs serve almost twice the catchment norm, at more than 2,38,000 men and women. Rural SCs and PHCs in the state serve 1.6 instances and 1.97 instances the norm, respectively. Rural CHCs in West Bengal, similarly, serve populations 1.8 instances bigger than the national norm. In Bihar, an additional state that sees substantial out-migration, rural CHCs serve catchments that are 15 instances the norm! Rural healthcare centres also endure from a personnel crunch—PHCs, against a sanctioned strength of 35,890 physicians, have just more than 28,000 in position. The CHCs in the nation are missing 15,775 specialists (surgeons, OB-gyns, physicians and paediatricians). A equivalent shortage of ANMs, radiographers and other healthcare personnel also grips the villages.