The Indian’s government’s scheme to bring down maternal and neonatal focuses on encouraging women to deliver at state-run health facilities–Providing cash incentives and free healthcare for pregnant women below the poverty line. However, pregnant women in Bankeda village Odisha are forced to hire private vehicles and pay for check-ups and...
A pregnant woman in Bihar was charged Rs 500 for cutting of the umbilical cord and also had to pay for painkillers she needed before her delivery. Women in the village report that on refusing to pay, the Auxiliary-Nurse Midwife refuses to service them point blank. This is despite a...
Do pregnant women in remote villages of India receive healthcare services they are entitled to under the Indian government’s schemes to bring down maternal deaths and infant mortality? In this village, a state-run health facility is always shut. This video follows three women – one who lost her baby within...
Ahilya Devi, a septuagenarian, is the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife from Jharkhand. She currently looks after the 14 sub-health centres in different villages while according to health ministry guidelines one auxiliary nurse midwife is supposed to look after 8. Apart from being over-worked, Ahilya also faces problems because there are no...
A 24-year old woman in labour was kept waiting for the doctor for 6 hours. The doctor on duty did not turn up and she delivered in the presence of a nurse. She was forced to pay INR 400 for her delivery and even, to use the toilet. She neither...
Crumbling infrastructure at a state-run health facility keeps pregnant women from availing healthcare services here. With a roof that leaks during the monsoon and no functional toilets, both frontline health workers and patients find it difficult to use. Bharti Kumari Reports from Telmocho village, Dhanbad district, Jharkhand This series on...
Tilopada Village, West Singhbhum District, Jharkhand | Xavier Hamsay The farming community of Bandgaon block is in the midst of a small revolution. After years of using chemical fertilisers that have slowly leached their soil of any nutrients, they are revisiting organic methods like using vermicompost to nurture the earth....
Kairodi Village, West Singhbhum District, Jharkhand | Xavier Hamsay A new scientific method of lac cultivation is picking up in Jharkhand, a state which contributed about 56% to India’s total lac produced in 2013-14. A local farmer, Gopi Chaki has been doing his bit to promote this method among tribal...