NASHIK & THANE, November 7: ``The mid-wife had given up and she was writhing in pain. We carried her to the highway in a doli (makeshift hammock). It was past 6 pm and there would be no bus till the next morning. A PHC jeep passing by refused to stop, so we carried her to the rural hospital 20 km away. Unfortunately, the woman's stomach got squeezed in the doli and the baby died. The foetus had to be removed surgically later,'' recalls Pandu Bhima Pithole, the sarpanch of Vaver village in Jawahar taluka where 40-45 people had died of malnutrition two years ago.After the sensational malnutrition deaths in Jawahar and Mokhada talukas two years ago, tar roads were speedily constructed as ministers flocked to visit the affected villages. But even today, the doli remains the only option for a critically ill patient, for no buses ply on these roads between June and November (supposedly due to the rains) every year.In reality, water-logging is a problem on days of heavy rains. When The Indian Express team visited the area, vehicles could easily go upto Pipalpada. Snake bites are extremely common (though all of them are not poisonous) and sometimes as Raghunath Balu Page of Pipalwada village says,``It is not feasible to carry the ill that far and we just watch the person die.''As the State Public Health Department proclaims, it has done Netradeepak overwhelming work in rural Maharashtra. There are Primary Health Centres, a network of social workers, a steady supply of medicine, paramedical staff and yet villagers suffer. The root of the problem is lack of adequate support from departments like transport, electricity and water supply.Villages like Vaver have at least got connecting roads now, but Manmovadi, a village 5 km away from Jhap, is surrounded by water on all four sides during the monsoon. In order to get essentials, villagers have to swim for 6 km. In Gandhuli, a remote village in Peth taluka of Nashik, The Indian Express team had to walk for 90 minutes on hilly terrain to get there. Not even a bicycle can reach the place.Being a politically sensitive area, a Primary Health Unit (PHU) was constructed in Gandhuli 18 months ago. A staff of six, including a Class 3 doctor, claim they undertake the 90 minute walk daily. Says the doctor,``We have hardly five to six outpatients daily. Our staff is being wasted here. We cannot live at Gandhuli because there are no quarters. The doctor's family lives in a one room mud hut in Ambe. Two nurses share a similar dingy hut, and cook on a wooden fire. The nurse posted at Gandhuli says she has a blood pressure problem. The pharmacist, close to retirement, needs a stick to help him through the 90 minute climb. There are no facilities to buy even a match stick in Gandhuli. It is pitch dark in most villages as there is no electricity. Most homes have pilfered electricity using overhead wires. Most often, the supply is cut off or the light is too dim to be of any use to the doctor. As a result, refrigerators are but storage cupboards and vaccines have to be discarded.Like so many other PHCs, there is no running water at Jhasmsar. A villager is paid Rs 300 per month to bring in buckets of water from a well 2 km away. It is too costly to use disposables, but an autoclave for disinfecting syringes is in working condition. Even rural hospitals like the one in Peth function without water or toilets.Mohammed Bashir, who owned a shop in Pipalpada in Nashik district complains about the bus services.``There are 10 buses during the day. The last bus to Jawahar at 7.30 pm goes empty. Similarly, the first bus from Jawahar at 5.30 am is also empty. Instead, the transport staff should sleep in the villages and ply the buses early in the morning''.
