The slums present to me the most vulnerable populace of the country of India. A chunk of population that is prone to the slightest of catastrophe striking them. What would otherwise have been a manageable accident for the rest of the population is a cataclysm that could fling them below the poverty line in just one jolt. An illness could be one such thing amongst many other.
At SEWA, my work encompasses the linkage of Home Based workers to health services provided by them at nominal or free of charge. The arrangement is such where the doctor is invited to visit the workers who are all waiting to be checked under what is referred to as a ‘camp’. These Health camps and their regular organization for ensuring a periodic check on the member’s health are only helpful to the extent of diagnosis of the ailment, if any. The burden of procuring the subsequent prescriptions lies solely on the member. We’re attempting to alter this by trying to subsidize the medicines along with requesting the doctor to prescribe cheap substitutes as the members complain of inability to purchase the exorbitantly prized drugs. And then there are a myriad of other concerns that stem from one basic issue, being debated and altercated for too long now, denial of affordable and quality health services by the state. The primary cause of ill health in the area is financial inability to pay, indifference and lack of accessible medical services. In areas with a hospital, what is available is not affordable. Thus, the need of Universal Healthcare to all. Health being a basic need and a healthy population the foremost obligation of the government, the need to provide it to all, and not just the poor, vests on the state. However, the need for state-sponsored quality healthcare is deemed vital for the underprivileged chunk as the relatively opulent mass can easily avail it privately. The unchecked private expansion of healthcare where quality is proportional to the cost has merely exacerbated the prevalent inequality.The National Rural Health Mission by the Government did bring in an attempt for affordable healthcare, however, the mollification was only to the extent of covering 29% of total medical expenditure which excluded coverage for medicines, diagnostic tests and outpatient care.For abating the execrable situation, the dire need is the assignment of priority and the subsequent deployment of wealth in the same direction. We really need to deploy our wealth in the necessary areas, parks can be constructed later, the ailing population needs the funds. For the same, tax-funded health services could be a respite since contributory health services, again, would be inappropriate for India as 93% of its working population is unorganized. Needless to say, more part of our GDP needs to be veered towards health care services, we have one of the lowest spending on health.

To compromise for Government’s ineptitude, however, there are various functional non-governmental agencies taking the lead. We too are trying. Needless to say, however, that none of these organizations can completely outdo or replicate the role of the state. A private-public partnership can be a negotiation, however, again, a purely private venture would be unsuitable for the lower rung of the population due to what is referred to as the ‘informational asymmetry’ by the Kolkata committee led by Amartya Sen. The right to healthy living is a basic right and thus, must be facilitated by the state outside legal propagation.There’s work to be carried out on both, policy and implementation levels. Till the state breaks its slumber and assumes the much urgent role it needs to, we’d keep contributing our bit like we’ve been.Healthy living is everyone’s right and the access to it must not be proportional to one’s affluence. All lives are precious!