by iphindia | Nov 18, 2012 | Blog, Latest Updates
This time it was neither KG Halli nor urban health project….but Health Inc…trying to find reasons for social exclusion in Bangalore Rural district.
When we entered 8×8 single room house, Jagadish was lying on the bed. We asked how he was feeling, he pushed bed sheet aside and showed his leg…yes it was badly infected & looked scary and his hospital discharge card said Cellulitis! He said few days ago we went again to private medical college they refused to admit me, then we went to Government Hospital, doctor said nothing can be done..it is too late, so we came back home. I was speechless and ran out of words…just to listen from that 24yr old boy in a calm and composed voice, with no emotions saying I’m waiting for my death! I said to myself.. Is it so easy to accept death?
For a moment I forgot why we were in that house, started making calls to friends and colleagues for help… one of the district surgeon assured to do his best. In the last 2 month, family which is mainly dependent on daily wage had borrowed Rs 40000 for his treatment, admitting him again means one or two family member loosing their wage….where money lenders are already demanding repyment….can they really afford to give time to save Jagadish? After two days I get information that he is yet to reach hospital!!
It must be the frustration, helplessness and poverty forcing people accept things easily as their fate! Is it the fate which is preventing Jagadish from getting care or is our health system failed to provide care for people like Jagadish or access care? Who should be blamed for…is it the tertiary care center which did not consider worth treating him or is it so simple that we blame poverty for everything and record exclusion due to poverty??
by iphindia | Nov 29, 2011 | Latest Updates, Research
The second global meeting of the Health Inc project was held in Senegal between 9th and 11th November. This meeting was hosted by the Centre de Recherché sur les Politiques Sociales (CREPOS – Research Centre for Political and Social Science) in the capital city of Dakar. All partners of the Health Inc consortium attended this meeting. From IPH, the Health Inc team comprised of Dr.Devadasan N, Dr.Thriveni BS, and Dr.Tanya Seshadri.
The three day meeting began with presentation and discussion by ‘Experts by Experience’ in poverty and social exclusion from Belgium who provided insight into social exclusion from the point of view of those excluded. This enlightening start was followed by presentations from all partners regarding their localised research protocol along with challenges foreseen. While the previous meeting had allowed for discussions regarding health financing mechanisms across Ghana, Senegal, Maharashtra (India) and Karnataka (India), this time the focus was on the planning and implementation of research across the various sites. The challenge remains to develop a common skeletal protocol while allowing each team to develop protocols based on their specific context. The health financing schemes being used to study social exclusion in the African and Indian sites are National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS, Ghana), Plan Sesame (Senegal) and Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY – Maharashtra and Karnataka).
This meeting was followed by a two day workshop for the junior researchers from the various institutes. The workshop had the group divided into country-based teams and each team worked on developing context-specific hypotheses and initiated work on the research tools.
For further details about the project, visit the recently launched website at http://www.healthinc.eu/
Photo below shows representatives of all six partners of the Health Inc consortium under the Baobab tree (national tree of Senegal) at Goree Island in Dakar, Senegal.