A letter to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
From Jan Swasthya Sahyog

To Keshav Desiraju
Dear Sir,
I am writing to you after a long time. I wanted to tell you about an impending serious crisis for rural India. 
We talked about the problem of poor availability of blood in rural areas when you visited Ganiyari. NACO seems to be worried only about blood safety showing no concern for its availability for people. Recently, this situation of poor availability has worsened further with blood bags, which we all could use to bleed donors to transfuse sick patients with urgent need of blood, going out of the market completely. Only licensed blood banks can buy these bags from the market and these blood banks are just too few and distant from people and rural health facilities.

We had been making a plea that Unbanked Directed Blood transfusion (UDBT) should be allowed for emergency situations even for civilians in rural areas. The Indian Army already allows this for its people. In the absence of this, people will die in hundreds without emergency blood transfusions in rural areas. The rural areas are far from blood banks and blood storage units. 

Very frankly, many of us, concerned as we have been for the lives of those people who need health care, with women who have undergone post- partum hemorrhage, or with severe falciparum malaria , or with sickle cell anemia or with surgical emergencies , have been bleeding. The voluntary donors in  emergency situations and transfusing them. Now with bags going out of the market, this single thread by which we could do this ethical yet illegal act is also gone. 

We are in the process of filing a petition in the supreme court along with the Associations of rural surgeons of India. but the courts take their own time , and may not deliver.
Tell us, what do we do?  

Source: reprohealth list serve

from Jan Swasthya Abhiyan 
Date: 13 Aug 2013

PHM India, including a large number of public health professionals, has sent an Open Letter to Prime Minister on the issue of access to essential medicines in India. The letter reminds him of his announcement during last year's (2012) Independence Day Speech that free medicines would be distributed through government hospitals and health centres. Click here for better and the list of organisations and individuals and individuals who have endorsed the letterRead More

Jana Arogya Anodolana, Karnataka, 120 people from various sanghatans held an overnight protest at Raichur, starting from 9 pm on 14th night going on upto 1 pm on 15th August 2013. The protest focused on issues specific to Raichur district and demanded that the district hospital should start functioning immediately following relocation, doctors particularly gynecologists should be appointed in all First Referral Units (FRUs) /taluk hospitals, PHC areas should be reorganized based on rational criteria, that OPEC hospital should be managed only by the government and free essential medicines should be provided in all public health facilities as in Tamil Nadu.

The protesters spent the entire night in the pouring rain singing protest songs of solidarity and raising slogans. Protesters highlighted an increase in maternal and infant deaths in the district mainly due to lack of doctors, lack of gynecologists in FRUs and non-functional district hospital. Nexus between government doctors and private hospitals were also highlighted that was pushing people to seek care in private. 

District in charge Minister and Minister for Medical Education Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil met with the protesters in the morning. Responding to the demands he assured the protesters that there will be no involvement / partnership with private agencies in management of OPEC and all staff from Apollo management who were unceremoniously retrenched will be taken back on a ‘stipendiary’ basis. He said that the district administration has been making efforts to appoint doctors / gynecologists but it has been a challenge. But he agreed that this was an important priority issue and will be responded to immediately. On the issue of free essential medicines he was very positive and said ‘It is on my priority list and I will definitely take it up’. Raichur district Committee will be following up on these assurances and will continue to keep up the pressure to ensure that these demands are met immediately. 

News contributed by
Raichur District Committee, Janaarogya Andolana Karnataka (JAAK),GRAKOOS, Navjeevan Mahila Okkoota, Jagrutha Mahila Sanghatane, Ruvari