My Health My Right
It was a regular OP day for Dr Steve Paul, a geriatrician based out of Bangalore when Shekhar came to him with an x ray of his 75 year old father’s hip joint. Thimmappa (names changed) had a history of cardiac failure, liver disease and lymphedema (swelling) of both feet. Shekhar said that his father had been having difficulty in walking. Dr. Steve was quick to notice that the elderly gentleman’s X Ray showed a bilateral hip fracture. Quite naturally, he advised hospitalization -not just for fixing the fracture but also to manage Thimmappa’s co-morbidities. Shekhar refused. When the World Health Organization came up with the slogan “My Health , My Right”, it might have had a different cohort as its priority with those in war ravaged and conflict struck zones and those tormented by hunger ,distress and displacement topping the list. But its noteworthy that the right to health is one that is being violated all around us ,at times inadvertently, at times willfully, mostly subtly. On this World Health Day, it is worthwhile to remember that the very constitution of the WHO in 1948 after the Second World War was in the light of ‘the highest standard of health attainable’ being recognized as a fundamental human right irrespective of ‘race, religion, political belief or economic and social condition’. Today, one will have to add ‘sexual orientation’ to this broad definition.
These ideals by the World Health Organization at its inception hold good to this day where we find transgressions of this ‘right’ albeit in less conspicuous ways which we don’t even realize many a times . When you do not know that you can get free medicines for your lifestyle disease from the government run institutions, your right to health is at stake. So also, when an HIV positive patient with tuberculosis sits crestfallen at home because there is no one willing to give him an injection, or when a migrant worker is anxious as to how to visit the hospital for getting a basic eye checkup. Rakesh Gupta (name changed ) who heads the CSR (corporate social responsibility )section of a mammoth oil company in a hamlet in Kochi has been busy coordinating with the doctor in the nearby health centre and NPCB (national program for control of blindness) officials to conduct an eye check camp on World Health Day for the workers in their company, most of whom are illiterate migrants , unable to find their way around in the new city.
What he chose to do is as good as what ASHA worker Rethi did when she got a call from a young woman named Sapna(name changed).35 year old Sapna had come to take care of her mother though she had been a resident of another district after her marriage. The young woman was devastated when she was diagnosed from the GH as having tuberculosis. It was impractical for her to go to her place of residence to get her anti TB medicines. She was lucky that Rethi was unbiased and harboured no discrimination and visited Sapna at home and coordinated everything thereafter. Today the once timid and scared Sapna is confident and visits the Health Centre if she has any worries. But not always is everything hunky dory. In Thimmappa’s case, after much prodding Dr Steve understood that lack of proper knowledge and the lack of funds was holding Shekhar back.
The kind doctor arranged for a clinician to visit Shekhar’s father at home .It turned out that the old man had a massive scrotal swelling and extensive bed sores. Shekhar finally managed to mobilize funds to get his father hospitalized and treated. Dr Sreeshyam, a community medicine resident in a medical college in north Karnataka says “There are a multitude of programs targeted at specific groups which should ideally ensure that the health needs of just about everyone is met. And yet, not always is health accessible to everyone”, he notices with sadness. “When I say ‘health’I don’t mean merely the access to medicines. It has a wide range of dimensions to it including right to information, psychological support, and clean air to breathe and so on”, he adds. Times that we live in are such that every new challenge- from the ruthlessness of crimes around us to the ecological changes brought about by our unrestrained meddling with the ecosystem, finally ends up reflecting on one’s health. Hence the relevance of this year’s slogan cannot be over-emphasized.“Why should health be offered to only those who can afford it? It is a basic right. Many a times irrespective of your purchasing power, health takes often takes a toll on your finances as well. Why should health be the prerogative of only a select few?” Dr Steve Paul’s questions loom large even amidst stories of positivity like Sapna’s and ventures by Rakesh Gupta.