The year of 2015 had brought new hopes for all, but for the residents of border villages in the northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir, the New Year ushered in cross-border firing and shelling, forcing over 10,000 villagers in Samba and Kathua districts to move into makeshift accommodations at safer places far from their homes.
Continuous ceasefire violations along the border area and security outposts in Jammu and Kashmir killed two Army Jawans in the first week of January along with a woman, while injuring 11 locals. Ongoing examinations for Class XI were put off. Over fifty villages were affected.
"Before that, it was elections that had kept our state in the news and even before that, it was the floods - the worst in the last six decades. But no one really talks about the struggles of the day-to-day life of the villagers residing in these sensitive locations. How different or difficult is life here: this one question never makes any headline," said Mohammad Iqbal, a local from village Kulliyan in District Poonch of Jammu and Kashmir.
Located two hundred and fifty kilometers from Jammu, the winter capital of the state, Poonch is located at the border bounded by the Line of Control on three sides (north, west and south). The 1947-48 war between India and Pakistan divided it into two parts. One went to Pakistan and the other became part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. For the last several decades, this district is severely affected by cross-border conflict. Not only that, its tough geography and isolated location has kept it away from the development fold, including it in the list of most backward districts of the state.
Its villages located at the border face numerous development challenges. From roads to education, safe drinking water to livelihood - they fight very basic challenges. "I live only a few kilometers from Poonch town but am forced to live in the dark ages - we do not have roads, no mobile network works here, there is no effective health-care," said forty-five year old Shabbir Ahmad, a resident of Village Kusalliyan.
There is no way to inform or reach their near and dear ones during an emergency as there are no roads. In the absence of health-care infrastructure, people residing here are forced to apply rudimentary, and at times ineffective, means of treatment, which can only suppress the symptoms but not cure it. As per statistics issued by the Health Department, there are only 1907 sub centers against the required 3044, clearly indicating the shortage of 1137 sub centers in the region. "We do not even have first-aid facility and this is when we are just five-kilometers from Village Headquarter," rued Shabbir.
There is technically one sub-center in Kusalliyan,that too was provided to the village under Army's Sadbhavna Operation and not by the Government. "There is no fixed schedule followed by the employees of the sub-center. They open the subs-centre at will. Most of the times, patients have to return without medicine as they are out of stock of medication supplies for almost ten months," said Azad Shah, another local from the village.
Also Read
According to Altaf, another local, the sub-center receives the medicine stock once a year that finishes off in two months. After that the villagers are left to fend for themselves.
Another issue plaguing the health care services in Poonch is the shortage of staff at these centers. The number of female community health workers in sub centers across Poonch District is 3941 while the male health workers are 541. There are only 845 doctors in the Primary Health Centers (PHC) with 705 Pharmacists available to cater to the health of the people of Poonch.
He explained that the biggest threat is to the lives of pregnant women. "There are no lady-doctors appointed. Putting aside their shyness, even if women of this conservative society come to get a health check-up done traversing the risky paths in this hilly terrain, they go back disappointed seeing the center closed," said Azad.
These villagers live under continuous stress of conflict. "If any villager gets injured during cross-border firing, there is no way to get immediate treatment. We have to wait for help from the security forces," said Shabbir, stressing the helplessness of the villagers.
In 2013, Jammu and Kashmir, Ex- Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had stressed on the need for health sector reforms to ensure better delivery of services to patients and equipping hospitals with modern technologies. He had stressed upon the need to enhance and upgrade health facilities in rural health centers so that the load of patients in city hospitals can be reduced. He had also indicated efforts to rope in private investment in the health sector and that launch of joint ventures needs to be encouraged. Even after two years, nothing has been done on the ground to help villagers get rid of their healthcare issues.
Even in the Assembly Election concluded in December last year, every party promised to provide better healthcare service to the villagers. "Every year we are promised better services but at the end of the day, we find ourselves cheated by these parties and their leaders. The Charkha Development Communication Network feels that it is the immense faith in our democratic system that people vote despite every wrong. We are hopeful that once the parties decide to come together to form a new Government, our issues will be highlighted and solved on a regular basis," said Shabbir.
The views expressed in the article are of the author Mussarat Yasmeen.