Linking health to the haat

Just two days ago, Naxals killed a man after holding a kangaroo court in a village 6 km from Gangaloor in Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh. For people living on the periphery of Naxal-dominated areas, this is not an isolated incident. Despite being in a conflict area, hundreds of villagers venture out to visit the monthly haat (village market) held on a Tuesday. They look forward to selling their wares and buying things of daily use, enjoying a drink or two of country liquor in cupped banana leaves, eating sweetmeats, and going back to their homes before nightfall.

Since it is the season when the Mahua flower blooms, one can see women and little girls carrying sacks-full of dried Mahua flowers, imli (tamarind) and mud containers or bottles of liquor made from the flower. And now one more function has been linked to the monthly market — healthcare.

Mangli and Kamali from Ersemeta village stop along the way at the community health centre (CHC) at Gangaloor as one of them is not keeping well. Twelve-year-old Rohinaa, too, stops at the CHC to fetch medicine for her ailing mother.

But there are many who are not able to visit the CHC. They can get their health check-up done at the

haat itself. In the midst of the buzzing crowds at the haat , seated under a garden umbrella are Shobha Kiran Minj, an auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM), and Sunita, the chief of the health workers. They are armed with immunisation and vaccination kits, equipment to test blood, and other medical paraphernalia. The Asha village workers (called mitanin in these parts) bring cases for immunisation and vaccination from the villages they visit. Most women in the area are anaemic and suffer from Vitamin A deficiency. Several have scabies.

Sunita, who trains the mitanins and supervises their work, says they refer serious cases either to the CHC or the Bijapur district hospital. The job is, by no imagination, easy, as access to villages is a challenge in this conflict zone.

“We walk in groups from village to village and, usually, health workers in uniform are not harmed,” says Lalita Sapni, a health worker from Kusma village.

As these health workers relate their tales, Somi carries into the health haat her one-year-old infant Sandip, who seems severely anaemic and underweight. Somi has come from Torka, a pahunch vihin village (a term used for areas that are inaccessible due to Naxal presence). She is advised to immediately take the child to the free district hospital in Bijapur.

Ajay Trakroo, a health specialist with Unicef, says haats can be used for extended health services in other areas too. Seven districts in Chhattisgarh are badly affected by leftwing extremism. But the takeaway from the haat experience is one of worry. Living in a conflict zone, will Somi be able to take her child to the hospital in time?

The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi