Author: phmindia_jsa

గత దశాబ్ద కాలంలో భారతదేశంలో ప్రభుత్వ వైద్య కళాశాలలు మరియు ఆసుపత్రులను ప్రైవేట్ సంస్థలకు అప్పగించే ధోరణి వేగవంతమైంది. ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ (ఏపీ) ప్రభుత్వం ఇటీవల 10 కొత్త వైద్య కళాశాలలను కార్పొరేట్ సంస్థలకు దీర్ఘకాలిక నియంత్రణకు అప్పగించాలని నిర్ణయించింది. ఈ నిర్ణయంపై ప్రభుత్వానికి ఏపీలో బలమైన ప్రజా వ్యతిరేకత ఎదురవుతోంది, దీని ప్రభావం రాష్ట్రాన్ని అధిగమించి దేశవ్యాప్తంగా విస్తరిస్తోంది.

Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (Peoples Health Movement – India) Health for All – Now!Health is a Basic Human Right! Ensure thorough investigation and timely justice! Ensure workplace safety of women health personnel! Ensure implementation of POSH Act in all health institutions! Statement by Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) 16th August, 2024 The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), a national coalition of multiple networks, health rights organisations, mass movements, and civil society groups, strongly condemns the murder and sexual assault of a second-year postgraduate resident at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, in the strongest possible terms. We express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. We join the protesting citizens/people in demanding an impartial investigation and timely justice in the matter of sexual assault and murder, and the alleged linkages of the case with large-scale corruption within the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. We also condemn the attempt to vandalise the site of crime by goons and attempts by the administration to destroy evidence, while investigation is ongoing! We also express our full solidarity with the struggle of all healthcare personnel across the country for speedy justice for victims and to ensure safety at the workplace. The issue of sexual harassment at the workplace is so pervasive, and safety in hospitals, medical colleges is of utmost importance. We like to point out that the current incident cannot be seen in isolation. Continuous sexual violence and harassment of patients as well as the health personnel within the premises of hospitals, wards, OPDs health personnel often go unnoticed. The vulnerability extends beyond patients to all healthcare workers mainly women including doctors, particularly junior doctors, interns, nurses, paramedical staff, lab technicians, administrative staffand frontline health workers like ASHAs, Anganwadi Workers. All of them are susceptible to sexual violence at the workplace often perpetrated by other doctors, colleagues, other employees and outsiders. This exposes the systemic violence and power hierarchies within the health system. Sexual violence and harassment, as a tool to maintain power arise from a sense of entitlement felt by powerful men/people. Only a minuscule fraction of these incidents, whenever the form of violation is very extreme, come to the public domain and draw some media and public attention. Workplace harassment may take many forms and transcends gender, caste, age and class barriers. This is intricately connected to larger issues of discrimination faced by women and marginalised communities within healthcare delivery institutions which lack able governance structures and administrators and in many cases, and is often mired in systematic and organised corruption. Recognising the pervasiveness of sexual violence, the National Medical Commission (NMC), under the Directives of the Supreme Court issued directives in 2023, to all healthcare institutions mandating the formation of committees within each institution, to investigate allegations of sexual harassment lodged against any employee. Furthermore, the directives ensure compliance with the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. We demand that the POSH Act be implemented to address sexual harassment at all workplaces, including hospitals, healthcare settings and medical colleges and institutions. This horrific incident also brings to light the pathetic state of workplace amenities and services available to healthcare personnel in public hospitals. Health workers, while delivering healthcare within constrained systems have often been at the receiving end of the anger and frustration from patients and families. While it is crucial to ensure the safety and security of health workers, in parallel there has to be a significant boost in public investment to strengthen infrastructure and amenities in public hospitals, and to fill vacancies to ensure adequate and appropriate quality of care, as well as elimination of work overload for healthcare staff. We demand that governance and administrative mechanisms of hospitals be strengthened, with all the existing statutory grievance redressal mechanisms to ensure workplace safety, redressal of sexual harassment and other forms of exploitation being put in place in all healthcare facilities across the country. The state and the health system need to take proactive measures to create humane and enabling environments for a profession that is supposed to be caring! Governance structures and administrators of healthcare institutions both private and public must be tasked with ensuring corruption-free transparent systems. In the overall governance of healthcare institutions, particularly the tertiary ones, mechanisms of people led governance and grievance redressal need to be established, with much greater participation of diverse sections of citizens in the processes. The action taken reports concerning grievances of people including healthcare workers should be made public to ensure greater transparency. JSA recognises the current outrage has significant potential to bring in sustained social change and a people centric health system. We appeal to all JSA network organisations, and state chapters to join the protesting health workers and citizens, to bring about systemic changes within the health system- both public and private and a strong commitment to gender justice, and justice for the victims and survivors!! On behalf of JSA National Coordination committee Indranil (9868701429), Dr. Abhay Shukla, Richa Chinthan, Sarojini and Ameerkhan (9443282718)

Overstretched, under-resourced specialist hospitals bear the brunt of underlying health system crisis Report of Jan Arogya Abhiyan fact finding visit, 6-7 October 2023 As you know recently there have been excessive numbers of deaths of patients in several tertiary hospitals in different parts of Maharashtra, which has been covered by the media. Among these incidents, the occurrence of 24 deaths in 24 hours on 1st October at Government Medical College, Nanded involved the largest number of mortalities, and was most highlighted. Jan Arogya Abhiyan (JSA Maharashtra) responded by sending a fact-finding team to Nanded, to investigate the various factors and underlying causes related to these unusually large numbers of deaths observed in a tertiary referral hospital. The complete report based on this investigation, which is the product of efforts by numerous activists and health professionals associated with JAA, is attached. Hope that our more systemic enquiry might emphasise the critical health system issues which have been less noted until now, followed by wider discussion about the deepening public health system crisis in Maharashtra, which now seems to be reaching breaking point. On the practical front, now Jan Arogya Abhiyan and Nanded based activists are organising an ‘Arogya Hakka Parishad’ (Health rights convention) at Nanded on 27th October (see poster below) where this report will be publicly discussed and action plans for further mobilisation to demand urgently required improvements in health services in Nanded will be worked out. This event will also mark the launching of a state-wide Right to Healthcare campaign in Maharashtra initiated by Jan Arogya Abhiyan, where similar events would be organised in many other districts across the state. Comments and responses are welcome.

  Click Here for Detailed Statement Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) stands in support of Dr. Saibal Jana and Dr. Dipankar Sengupta of Shaheed Hospital, Dalli Rajhara, Chhattisgarh where, through an order dated October 11, 2022, the Chhattisgarh Medical Council (CGMC) has suspended the registration of Dr. Jana and Dr. Sengupta for three months. JSA deems this suspension as unfair and illegal. It demands that these suspension orders be revoked with immediate effect. In such times when healthcare is increasingly getting corporatised and profit-driven, it is the committed initiatives such as the Shaheed Hospital which have stood resolutely for the people, providing affordable and rational care to the masses.