Jhabua is a non-descript district in Madhya Pradesh has finally found an identity – on health and medical map of the country, that is. With not even primitive health facilities available here, people had to trudge to neighbouring districts for even normal health checkup. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR); and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of this tribal district was also very high. Health infrastructure was like a ramshackle vehicle which breaks down every time it is needed. Hapless people were forced to borrow money from money lender to get treatment of common ailments.
The situation is but changing. The incumbent district collector Rohit Singh is not only making the government machinery work for better health facility but also was successful in making Jhabua as the top performing state in Ayushman Bharat Yojna registration.
In an exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds the 2012 batch officer talks about his Chiranjivi Mission and his idea of a public servant…
Mission Chiranjivi
Jhabua lies in the western part of Madhya Pradesh bordering Gujarat and Rajasthan with 84 % of tribal population. It is the home of many primitive tribal groups like Bhil, Bhilala, Patelia etc. The people here lack in education and awareness about government programs and migration is a common-phenomena. Sometimes two-three months pregnant ladies also migrate with their families neglecting their regular health checkup. More than 70 % women and adolescent girls are already anemic in this district and neglecting health checkup in pregnancy results in increasing the IMR and MMR.
Mr. Singh launched an initiative called ‘Chiranjivi’ to sort out this problem. “On taking over the charge I first reviewed the Covid-19 situation. In the process I realized that the district lacks proper medical infrastructure. Moreover, people had no trust on the government hospital. They would travel to Dahod for medical services. I had to stop this. It was only possible if people could trust on our hospitals so we started this campaign”, he says.
As part of the scheme, he got the hospitals cleaned up. Curtains and beds were changed along with the machines which were not working. After this the Aganwadis, AASHA workers and ANM were given orientation for monitoring the health of pregnant and lactating women with the new born child.
Emphasizing on the plan the officer said, “The aganwadis, aasha etc. have their own guidelines for monitoring health of people in an area. However, many of them overlaps. So, I thought to merge them together for better results. A master monitoring sheet was formed with their help and all these health workers were trained to work accordingly. They also ensured to monitor the health of women who migrated between their pregnancy period.”
The officer also launched a birth registration drive and ensured registration of every eligible individual under the Ayushman Bharat Yojna of Central Government. Since there were no Blood Bank in the district, regular blood donation camps are being organized.
“I just wanted to fix accountability for each and every health worker. We have already achieved that and hoping it to turn into positive results. If the medical equipments work properly, no milestone is away. We are also planning an extensive campaign for the hemoglobin checkup for all the school going girls”, said the collector.
With such active district collector, one can only hope that there is no milestone which can’t be achieved by Jhabua in medical and health field.
