Chandigarh, October 9
“Over the past few years, I have been forced to get my female foetus aborted four times. My mother-in-law is waiting for me to bear a son. I am fed up. Please tell me what to do?” says a woman calling from a border district of Punjab.
Within minutes of receiving the call, the District Health Officer is on the toes, tracing the caller’s village on the map to send a woman health worker to her house for “subtle” intervention.
Just as the phone is put down, it rings again.
“I live in Mansa. My house is surrounded by sewage leaking from a burst pipe and there is no one to help us out,” relates the next caller.
This time, it is the Mansa programme officer who is put on the job.
Welcome to India’s first public health call centre. Started as a pilot project in Punjab as part of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the “community hotline service” is a 9 am to 6 pm telephone service that gives residents an opportunity to get their grievances and suggestions registered as regards health services in the state.
“The caller has to dial 4005252 and follow the instructions. These instructions are in Punjabi. Since one of the main aims of the service is to curb female foeticide in the state, the first three options relate to that. The fourth option gives the caller a chance to record his problems and give advice as to how the health services can be improved,” says Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, who has been following the implementation of the project on daily basis.
“The project is aimed at breaking the conspiracy of silence that generally leads to female foeticide. We are encouraging women to come out and speak up in case they are being forced to get their female foetus aborted. In case it is not possible for her to make a call, her relatives or friends can tell us about it. There is also an option that allows the public to inform us about any such case,” added Anurag Aggarwal, MD, NRHM.
The call made to this number is kept anonymous. “The voice is filtered to the listener electronically and the incoming call number is blocked. No one can know who is calling till the caller chooses to identify himself or herself,” said Aggarwal.
The service was launched on experimental basis yesterday and the NRHM office is already flooded with calls. “We did have some women calling and telling us about their experience about female foeticide. Detailed instructions have been
issued to civil surgeons and programme officers on how to deal with this kind of information,” said
Aggarwal.
Callers are also calling up to air their grievances. “These would be sorted out and the departments concerned would be informed,” said
Aggarwal.
This is the first attempt in the country where a government has gone into interactive mode with the community. In case the experiment works out well, the state would be looking at similar hotlines for other services.
“Feedback on school and college education for students and parents, on agriculture for farmers and power for consumers is on my priority list,” said Sukhbir.
