@ Waifad, Wardha-Health at Waifad.

The first village we visited was Waifed in the Wardha district of this region. We reached Waifed around 11 am when a video conference was being carried out at the Village Resource Center. The Village Resource Center or VRC as it is generally called is maintained by the MSSRF in some villages across the country. The farmers are given guidance on new schemes, seeds and other inputs here. The First National Virtual Congress of Mahila Kissan was being carried out at the same time. We met Mr Vijay Jhawandia, a member of the Shetgari Sanghatan who has been constantly fighting to bring about a change in the government policy to help reduce the agrarian crisis. Waifed is a big village with a population of around 4000+ and has one Primary Health Care Center. I was primarily looking into the condition of the PHC in all the villages i covered. The first stop was Waifed. The PHC of Waifed has just one MO, Dr Shwetha Talwar. Essentially a PHC should have 2 MO's, ANM's and sanitary workers. But apart from the presence of one doc and an attendant, this PHC has all the other positions vacant. This PHC is at the top of 7 other sub-centers. According to the doctor, the PHC has 76000 people under it with very very limited resources. The center lacked in Anti-rabies and Anti-venom. Also according to the villagers, the doctor is restricted to treating only emergency cases and is in no state to carry out deliveries etc especially if a woman gets into labour in the night. The nearest hospital to waifed is in Sevagram where we stayed, which is 30-45 minutes drive. One positive thing that i noticed in every village i covered is that the pulse polio drive was being carried out effectively however remote the village might be.
Waifed reports high number of chikungunya, malaria and filariasis cases. The village lacks basic sanitation facilities. Open drains are a feature of this village. There are no community toilets and many villagers defecate in the open. The situation only worsens in the rainy season when mosquitoes create a havoc in the villages.

Health is the second largest reason for the farmers to be debt-ridden. With no proper health care facilities reaching them, the villagers are forced to go to a private doctor and spend a lot of on health. We have to remember that a farmer is paralyzed economically if his health is hit.
The PHC in waifed gets medicines just once a month and depends on the whims of the higher ups. According to the Doctor and other sources, the water in the village has been tested and has high levels of flouride and e-coli. Also there are many cases of women suffering from Sickle-cell anemia here who are expected to buy the costly medicines. Most villagers due to the lack of proper health facilites fall back on the traditional doctors or "quacks"
There was a time when a villager treated the doctor as God, but in today's day and age where corruption has reached every level from the Tahsildar to the DMO, it is not a suprise that doctors are looked at with suspicions, PHC's are not trusted places anymore.
The money is available, but it doesnt reach the right people. This PHC had recieved a grant of 1.75 lakhs but the cash never reached the PHC. The cheque was recieved almost six months back..and no one knows what happened to it. The annual budget for this PHC is a meagre 5000-6000 rs--this is for a population of close to 4000 people in that one village itself.....
It is very frustrating to see villages in such dismal conditions...the disparity between the urban and the rural instead of narrowing down is only widening..and widening at a rapid pace.. at the cost of another.....Next time you throw those unused medicines in the house..think for a minute about these people who are dying coz of lack of health facilities and donate those medicines to the nearest Help Age India center...In one village i had been too..Bhudumri, the villagers depended entirely on a mobile HelpAge India unit which came to their village every 15 days to treat and give medicines...