Maharashtra: Maharashtra's Nandurbar dist suffers from poor health infra as two women's hospital go out of service

Mumbai: Nandurbar, a tribal-dominated district in Maharashtra around 450 kilometres away from Mumbai, continues to suffer from poor health facilities even as it has witnessed a large number of stillbirths and infant deaths in recent times. The two sanctioned women hospitals — one inside the premises of the Civic Hospital in Nandurbar taluka, and another in Dhadgaon taluka — in the district are both out of service, and exist only on paper.

Reports say that several key posts in these hospitals have been lying vacant for years, and with no specialists, they are forced to turn away women who are in need of medical help most of the time.

According to data as many as 956 stillbirths (death of a baby before or during delivery) were recorded in Nandurbar in the last five years — between 2017 and 2021; with 1,698 infant deaths (death of a child below one year) during the same period. Most of these newborns suffered from preventable diseases like respiratory diseases, sepsis, prematurity, and pneumonia among others. Many could have been saved if proper treatment was provided by medical experts on time, Indian Express reported.

The district has also witnessed 37 maternal deaths, including five in Dhadgaon taluka and seven in Nandurbar taluka this year so far.

Dhadgaon taluka is placed lowest in the health index, with high numbers of malnutrition, stillbirth and infant deaths. In 2018, the district authorities completed the construction of the women hospital in Dhadgaon, but posts for medical experts needed to run the hospital were sanctioned only after four years i.e. in September 2022 and is still being run as part of the rural hospital.

The hospital’s blood unit has also been lying dysfunctional due to the unavailability of trained staff.

Regarding the women hospital, out of the nine posts sanctioned in 2017, only one for a medical superintendent has been filed — that too in September this year i.e. after five years. There are plans to hire several doctors on bond, after their post-graduation, to bridge the gap.

Several resident doctors, however, said that lack of infrastructure and basic amenities is to be blamed for the situation and that is why they opt out of rural bonds. “These hospitals do not have basic medicines or equipment to treat a patient during an emergency and have to refer them to district hospitals, which is time-consuming. And, if a patient dies on the way, the relatives often blame the doctors and have attacked them on several occasions. These hospitals or even PHCs do not have water,” said a resident doctor from Mumbai.

Civic society has demanded that the government should provide doctors with better incentives, so that they agree to work in rural areas for a time-frame.