Villagers build hospitals, need doctors

When the government failed to provide health services, people in two remote villages of Rajasthan did something remarkable. Instead of pleading or protesting, they pooled in their own resources to build state-of-the-art hospitals in their respective villages.

A distance of more than 300 km separates Chanod village in Pali district from Gida in Barmer district, but the villages shared similar problems — primary health centres in their villages were in ruins. In Chanod, the public health centre had been functioning in a building that was donated in 1928 by the erstwhile ruler of the area. The building was in a dilapidated condition and the roads leading to it proved too narrow for ambulances. Similarly, in Gida, the building is weak and the roof is leaking. The villagers gave many presentations but the state government didn’t release any budget for repairs. It was tough on doctors to treat people in such conditions and slowly people stopped going to these primary health centres.

But the people didn’t sit quietly. The inspiration came from two people. In Chanod, sarpanch Shankar Lal Gehlot was the driving force behind the donation drive. Mr Gehlot, who left behind a flourishing business in Mumbai to return to his village, himself donated Rs 1 crore. With more than '3 crore, the villagers turned a small health centre into a huge hospital equipped with modern facilities. It has an ICU, operation theatre and extensive diagnostic facilities.

But these facilities remain unutilised as two doctors from a nearby public health centre now function out of this hospital. More doctors are needed but for that the PHC has to be converted into a community health centre.

On the other hand, in Gida, it was a doctor appointed at the PHC who encouraged people to collect money for repair of the health centre. The 700 villagers contributed '8 lakh and converted the health centre into a private hospital.

It has now become the top Primary health Centre of the state with annually 25000 outdoor patient visits, six times more than mere 4200 in 2012. It is also top on the ranking for last five years in family planning.

“We sat with villagers to discuss the problem and how this can be changed. We had Rs 11 lakh from contribution by villagers and donations that was spent on flooring, roof repair and CCTV cameras. This is now top PHC in the state with 25000 OPD,” said Dr. Jogesh Choudhary, head of the PHC.