A Dream of HEALTH for All

Innovative civil society initiatives that have enabled health care to reach the last mile

- Syeda Saiyidain Hameed

You might be called an exceptionally lucky Indian if you have access to a truly trustworthy doctor. Bordering on a national cliché, it is widely felt that government healthcare services in India are inadequate in serving the needs of the nation. On the flip side, it is also true that the system is not satisfactory from the perspective of most health-care providers either. Every stakeholder—users, providers and managers—struggle to bandage the structural fault-lines in the system. But, all is not lost. A few motivated individuals and organizations across the country are working on making a change. Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, a social rights activist, educationist, and a former member of the Planning Commission of India, champions a few civil society initiatives that are working to deliver health care to India’s impoverished.

AS A MEMBER OF THE Planning Commission (2004 to 2014), my biggest challenge was to find solutions for the crucial sector with which I was entrusted, namely, health. Despite the thousands of crores spent on health over several five-year plans, the fact remains that the vast majority of our people continue to suffer; recurring illnesses take away whatever meagre little they own. If they don’t die from disease, they die from the anxiety and penury that it causes.

But there were glimmers of hope in hopelessness. Has anyone heard of Gadchiroli, Akha, Sittilingi, Phek or Ehsaas in the metro cities where policies are made and formulated as government schemes? Was health reaching these hinterlands where no government scheme could reach?