Lack of health camps leaves slum dwellers ailing

The lack of doctors and health camps have left the children in Sarbendapalli slum suffering.

By Srimoyee Lahiri

BANGALORE (Dec. 6)—About 30 people in a slum in Sarbandepalli are suffering from tuberculosis and do not have access to medical treatment.

It’s been a year since the last health camp was organized by the government in the slum in Banashankari, West Bangalore.

“Until last year there were no such health hazards in our slum as we used to get regular medical checkups,” said Salim, a slum dweller.

Slum dwellers complain about the unavailability of basic medical facilities. They depend on the health checkups conducted by the government

“Health camps have not been organized for a year now. The last camp was held on September last year,” Salim said. “They use come every three months before and provide us with free medical checkups, first aid and free medicines.”

In May there was a major outbreak of diarrhea. Due to the lack of doctors and health camps five slum residents lost their lives.

“I have lost my mother who was suffering from severe stomachache in this summer. I took her to the nearby clinic in our slum along with my husband,” said slum dweller Farheen Akhtar.

The doctor just gave her a few medicines and didn’t even attend her properly. We couldn’t afford the cost of taking her to Indira Gandhi Hospital, which is 15 kilometers away from our slum, “Akhtar said. “Due to the lack of health camps and doctors I lost my mother within two days of her illness.”

1 doctor for 900 patients

In the Sarbandepalli slum clinic there is only one doctor for the almost 900 residents, while the World Health Organization recommends a ratio of 1:300 in rural areas.

The ratio is far lower in these slums as very few doctors want to offer their services for a tiny fee.

“We can’t earn much serving these poor people,” said Dr. Ali, the clinic’s doctor. “The government also doesn’t give us a good amount of salary, which makes it hard to make a living. That’s why we have to work in the private clinics.”

“There are around 35-40 BPL [below poverty line] families who are completely dependent on these health camps as they cannot afford medical treatments,” he added.

Basic medical attention is unavailable and the medical infrastructure in the form of rural clinics, delivery rooms, nurses and free medicines is nonexistent in this slum.

Sharad Amma's BPL card fails to serve its purpose of providing free medication.

“I have been suffering from lung tumors for six months. I can’t afford these expensive medications. I have two children,” said Sharad Amma, 88, a resident of the slum.

“My son is physically handicapped and the other son died in August due to tuberculosis. The entire family runs on my pension. The health camps were a huge advantage for us,” Amma said.

“We have complained about this issue to the ward councilor, S.H.Basuraj, a BJP leader, but there has been no response,” said Javed Khan, a shopkeeper of the slum. “He doesn’t listen to us since we are Muslims.”

“He [Basuraj] generally works for Hindus in the slum, but on this matter he didn’t respond to their complaints either,” Khan said.

“The government has its own budget to organize such health camps. We are aware of this issue and trying to organize a health camp within a month time,” Basuraj, the ward councilor, told The SoftCopy.