Advocacy at the broader level for Primary Health Care and Health Rights-
A national collaborative health advocacy platform has been launched in India since the year 2000 in the form of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA). The SATHI team has been giving inputs to this process as one of the active elements at both state and national level, since the inception of this campaign. In the last two years, inputs have particularly been given for the National Right to Health Care Campaign. These inputs are in the form of -
• Contribution to preparation of survey formats and for documentation of the individual cases of denial of health care in public health care facilities.
• Preparation and dissemination of checklists to document the availability of various basic facilities and services, which should be available at PHCs and Rural Hospitals. As a part of the preparations for the series of Public Hearings on Right to Health Care (organized by the various constituents of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan) several sections of the ‘Denial Survey Handbook’ were drafted and the handbook was published by SATHI Cell (as part of CEHAT), with considerable inputs from other Jan Swasthya Abhiyan activists. It was extensively used through out the country in the context of the campaign.
• Inputs for coordination of the Jan Aarogya Abhiyan’s (JSA-Maharashtra) campaign work. SATHI’s involvement in the JAA campaign for Right to Health Care in Maharashtra has meant, participation in the preparation and in the conduct of various Jan Sunwais in Maharashtra to document and present cases of denial of health care in Public Health facilities.
Dr. Abhay Shukla is one of the National Joint-Convenors of JSA, and since April 2003 the SATHI team (initially as part of CEHAT) has managed the National Secre-tariat of JSA. Dr. Anant Phadke has been one of the Co-convenors of the Jan Aarogya Abhiyan, Maharashtra. In the campaign on Right to Health Care, the SATHI team has played a significant role in collaboration with a large number of JSA constituent organisations. Some important steps in this JSA campaign have been -
• National consultation and workshop on Right to health care in Mumbai on 5th-6th September 2003.
• Six ‘Jan Sunwais’ (public hearings) in Maharashtra in 2004 in Thane, Nandurbar, Pune, Sangli and Latur, and in Mumbai city. Seventy cases of denial of health care in public health facilities were presented in these public hearings.
• Five Joint NHRC-JSA regional public hearings were held in Bhopal, Chennai, Lucknow, Ranchi, and Gauhati during 2004. In these hearings, about 150 cases of denial of health care were presented in presence of the NHRC members, along with state level reports pointing out to the deterioration in status of public health facilities.
• During these regional public hearings, state officials had to make important admissions and concessions in presence of the NHRC officials. For example, the Director General of Health Services, Maharashtra organised joint enquiries (with representatives of JAA in the enquiry committees) of the 9 cases of denial of health care presented by Maharashtra JAA in the Bhopal hearing. • NHRC-JSA National Public Hearing in Delhi in December 04, during which the NHRC-JSA action plan for governments to operationalise the Right to health care was declared and sent to state governments and Union health ministry for action.
SATHI team members have also been involved in shaping the JSA response to the National Rural Health Mission, including contributing to JSA documents on NRHM, suggesting the idea of a ‘People’s Rural Health Watch’, facilitating a JSA national meeting on NRHM in mid-2005 and co-editing the JSA ‘Action Alert’ on NRHM.