“Government hospitals are very crowded and there is no privacy , no cleanliness. Sometimes, doctors and nurses are not available when we go there. Often , they shout at us. In corporation clinics, medicines are given for three days and we are asked not to come early even if there is a problem. Medicines are very cheap and, therefore, of inferior quality,” says slumdweller Radha. Ahmedabad: Radha is just one of the women dissatisfied with health services provided by hospitals , dispensaries, maternity homes and urban health centres run by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).
In fact, a study by city-based NGO Foundation for Research in Health Systems (FRHS) in 2006-07 has found that these subsidised health and supplementary nutrition services are under-utilised by vulnerable sections of urban poor – adolescent girls, women and children.
“The survey, sponsored by a private bank, was conducted in two slums, each from East and North Zone, and one slum each from Central, West and South zone. After we made our findings known to AMC, it was supposed to intervene and correct the situation. But, that hasn’t happened so far,” says FRHS executive director Dr Alka Barua.
