These vulnerable centres are fighting the good fight despite the lack of resources
They say necessity is the mother of invention. The medical staff at the Herbertpur Christian Hospital (HCH), Dehradun, has witnessed this aphorism spring to life in this time of COVID-19. HCH’s carpentry and fabrication unit started producing face shields for their staffers that cost them less than one-sixth the minimum market price. “The minimum price of a good face shield is around Rs 600. Being a rural setup, we couldn’t afford to get such expensive protective gear. The shields we make cost under Rs 100 and we currently produce it only for our hospital,” says one of the medical staffers at HCH.
The sudden declaration of the lockdown created panic and confusion, especially among the migrants who are stranded far from home and, not to forget, marginalised communities like daily wage labourers, widows, elderly and people with disabilities. With almost all services being shut down, there has been a loss of livelihood, compounded by food scarcity and increased morbidity and mortality. For city dwellers, life has not been so hard as the authorities have been quick to look into their concerns. But what about the ones who live in the isolated areas? The people from oppressed communities?
Situated in the foothills of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand, HCH is one of the hospitals that operate under the non-profit organistion Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA). The EHA is a network of 19 hospitals and 42 community development projects in east, central, north and northeast India. It plays a vital link between primary health care, government services and tertiary hospital services, catering to the needs of rural India.
As of today, HCH has not been designated as a COVID-19 treatment or collection unit yet. But the hospital is prepared in case of an unforeseen situation. According to Dr Saira Paulose, EHA executive director, two units of the organisation—Nav Jivan Hospital, Satbarwa, Jharkhand, and Broadwell Christian Hospital, Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh—have been designated as COVID-19 hospitals. “The rest of the units have become triage centres for COVID-19. Patients would be advised isolation, quarantine or will be referred to the nearest centre with an inpatient and or isolation facility. The hospitals with facilities have prepared isolation wards where suspected COVID-19 patients can be taken care of. The units that have community health programmes will provide support to the communities, providing advice for home quarantine in the community. We are also working towards converting some of our hospitals as training centres for health care,” she says.
Says Dr Viju John, medical director, HCH: “People from villages in and around Herbertpur, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab come to HCH for medical emergencies as most private hospitals are closed now. This is also because of the credibility of our institution and low charges. Our patients are mostly from the lower-income group—farmers, cattle herders and daily wage labourers. Most of the time, they don’t have the money to pay for medicines. There is a financial crunch, but the staff at our hospital are prepared to go through this challenging time despite limited resources. It was surprising to see how nobody had any complaints when their salaries were delayed. They were even willing to travel to villages for awareness programmes. I feel all of us are in solidarity to fight the virus attack and do our bit to help the ones around us.”
For now, the hospitals thoroughly screen patients before they enter the hospital. At the entrance, the patient is asked to fill a form about their travel history and symptoms. There are foot-operated soap dispensers and water taps at the entrance for the patients to clean their hands. COVID-19 suspects are filtered out this way. The only fear most staffers at the hospital have is of coming in contact with an asymptomatic patient.
Apart from their community awareness programmes, HCH has started giving care kits to patients who get discharged from the hospital. “As most of these patients might not have been working and not earning, it becomes difficult for them to get back on their feet, especially during this lockdown period. We provide them with food kits with 5kg rice, 5kg flour, lentils, onions and some vegetables so that they don’t have to worry about food for a couple of days. We also focus on patients with disability.
