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Health | Kerala model: When the frontline is backbone -Vandana Puthezhath

Kerala model: When the frontline is backbone -Vandana Puthezhath

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published Published on Jun 18, 2021   modified Modified on Jul 6, 2021

-CivilSocietyOnline.com

Thiruvananthapuram: VEHICLES scattered left and right as Ushakumari S., surreally perched on her scooter in a personal protective equipment (PPE) suit, drove at top speed through Kollam’s streets to get to a hospital.

Riding pillion with her was a COVID-19 patient, Ramla Beevi, who needed her second antigen test done. Ushakumari had got fed up, waiting for an ambulance to ship the patient, and decided to take matters into her own hands.

“It was quite a sight to see people and vehicles on the crowded street make way for my scooter,” recalls Ushakumari, who is in her late forties, with a smile.

Elsewhere in Udduki a no less important feat was pulled off with equal urgency. Ambili Chacko of Vandipperiyar attended to deliveries within the span of a few hours in the middle of the pandemic with no transport available. One of the deliveries was in a tribal hamlet. Chacko made it a point to show up and two precious lives were safely brought into the world.

Apart from their diligence and public spiritedness, what both women have in common is that they are Accredited Social Health Activists or ASHAs under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005.

ASHAs are meant to create awareness and there is one for every village. States like Kerala which have integrated ASHAs well into the healthcare system have benefited during the COVID-19 pandemic. ASHAs have been on hand to counsel patients, get them to health centres and hospitals, and provide general services like midwifery when the rest of the healthcare system has been overtaken by COVID-19.

Kerala’s public healthcare model has been lauded the world over. During the pandemic, health minister K.K. Shailaja led the crusade against the novel coronavirus from the front, putting in place efficient systems for tracking the spread of the virus, for testing, quarantining and ensuring timely and low-cost medical care. She became a role model and a hero, in India and abroad.

Kerala has an integrated public health system which the state has invested in over the years. Primary health centres (PHCs) and community health centres (CHCs) are linked to secondary hospitals which are connected to general hospitals and medical college hospitals. Private healthcare has been rising in popularity but during the pandemic both have been working together.

What also distinguishes Kerala’s healthcare system is compassion and kindly care. Social distancing, masking and quarantine require a gentle touch. And it begins with the ASHA worker ringing your doorbell with a cloth bag on her shoulder and a smile.

Kerala has more than 26,000 ASHA workers. They had a tough time initially when the pandemic first struck. People worried about life in solitude, they were anxious about their near and dear ones. They feared the reaction of people if they came to know they were infected.

So in the early days of the crisis, people would not cooperate with ASHA workers. But as the virus began infecting larger numbers of people, fear of social ostracism began to diminish.

“Initially, we faced resistance and emotional outbursts when we would go to put up information stickers telling people about COVID-19 patients or quarantined residents. We tried to calm them down and carry on with our duties. We used to walk a lot to visit houses and to provide medicines and essentials,” says Priya, an ASHA worker in Thiruvananthapuram.

“As the pandemic went on and normal life stood at a standstill, we started to receive more support. People warmed to us and started to appreciate our efforts,” she says.

Antony, a COVID-19 patient in Vattiyurkavu, a neighbourhood in Thiruvananthapuram, fondly remembers the ASHA worker of his area.

Please click here to read more. 


CivilSocietyOnline.com, 18 June, 2021, https://www.civilsocietyonline.com/pandemic/kerala-model-when-the-frontline-is-backbone/


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