chhattisgarh's remarkable mitanins
On the 23rd of January, Savitri Sahu was woken up by the family of a woman who had gone into labour. We borrowed a tractor, she says, took her to the primary health centre, woke up the doctor and the nurses, got the delivery done. Given that most rural clinics we hear about lack doctors, nurses, medical supplies and are shuttered most of the time, what explains this unusually conscientious health centre, that too in underdeveloped Bastar? Is this a micro-experiment by a committed bureaucrat or NGO or an especially aware and vigilant community? No. Savitri Sahu and Ushamani Kashyap are Mitanins. They were trained by the government of Chhattisgarh to work as community health workers. At last count, Chhattisgarh had 60,000 such women, spanning all 54,000 hamlets in the state. Between them, they have almost halved infant mortality, radically improved childcare practices, and forced the health system to improve.
At a time when debate is raging on whether the Indian state can effectively deliver social services, the Mitanin programme illustrates one side of the discussion -- that, with a little reform, the state can indeed deliver.
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