Rural health care has been a common topic of discussion going on for long but has there been much changes? Lot of data will be available online as to what the Govt has been doing to better the healthcare services provided at the primary healthcare centres and block primary healthcare centres. But how will the seccess or their failure be measured? Large parts of Rural Sundarban have been left untouched. Due to poor infrastructure and unavailability of doctors, villagers have been forced to go to their last option -"The Untrained or Unregistered Doctors / Quacks". 
Roughly 14.4 million villagers in West Bengal and 70% of them live below a monthly income of Rs 400/month. A combination of factors such as low income, rising costs, poor access to good healthcare services and basic amenities like clean water and food has lead to a situation where the villagers cannot afford basic healthcare check up to cure disease. Lives are being lost more due to lack of awareness, unavailability of doctors when needed and most of all lack of funds to avail medical services. Untrained quacks are the only option they have left. That definitely does not guarantee the cure.
70-75% of medical cases are non emergency type. About 8.4 million people develop active, or infectious, diseases and about two million deaths occur due to these. Govt. has injected a lot of money into the medical system for telemedicine implementation but due to various bottlenecks it is still a distant dream. Many NGO’s are actively involved in uplifting the medical scenario but there is a lack of proper planning and coordinated efforts. Generally patient loses a days wage, has to pay for travel expenses and even then in most cases appointment with doctor is not guaranteed. Doctors charge a lot of money.
The situation can be changed by using telemedicine for connecting the rural poor to good doctors in the urban area. Through web based video conferencing and online prescription uploading options, the set up can be replicated at nodal centres where villagers can be referred at very affordable cost. Through regular pilot projects the model is being developed for the rural use and as a sustainable option for bettering healthcare services in rural India.
For discussing possible avenues to make availability of healthcare services in rural India better feel free to contact me at koel.ghorai@gmail.com
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