SPOTLIGHT
A union and a hospital
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An idea that slain union leader Neogi sought to integrate into the political discourse was healthcare for workers. V. KRISHNA ANANTH looks at the growth of the Shaheed Hospital, which was the result of his attempts.
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V. KRISHNA ANANTH
At the Shaeed hospital ...providing much-needed healthcare.
THERE was a time, not so long ago, when incidence of death due to diarrhoea was very common among the mineworkers and their families in the Dalli Rajhara region. They believed that oral rehydration therapy (ORT) was harmful; so those who contracted diarrhoea usually died.
The region was also known for indiscriminate use of Pitocine, an intravenous drip used to induce labour. The ill effects included foetal hypoxia and death, neo-natal jaundice and several such complications. All this was in addition to accidents in the mines. Yet, there was not even a semblance of a health care system. The people depended on quacks.
Dalli Rajhara is the place from where ore for the Bhilai Steel Plant is extracted. It is 70 kilometres from Bhilai. A majority of the mineworkers were employed by contractors and kept outside the purview of the various facilities, including health-care provided to workers directly employed by the Bhilai Steel Plant. The union leaders in the plant too did not feel the need to take up their cause.
The situation, however, began to change after Shankar Guha Neogi, a chemical engineer by qualification and an employee in the steel plant, began empathising with the unorganised mine workers. Neogi could have led a contented life like several others in the public sector undertaking. He could have found a position in any of the unions in the Bhilai Steel Plant. The trade union movement here was (and continues to be) strong. The Indian National Trade Union Congress (leaning towards the Congress (I)) and the All India Trade Union Congress (having links with the CPI) had established themselves in Bhilai. But Neogi began to move towards the mines and the miners.
The Chattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh (CMSS) was established in 1977. The immediate challenge before the new union was a proposal by the PSU management to mechanise some parts of the mining operation. The know-how came from the Soviet Union and both the mainstream unions endorsed the idea. The CMSS, however, resisted the proposal and the struggle ended in its victory. The CMSS grew in strength and, within a decade, its influence was noticed in and around Bhilai with workers in the various ancillary units around the steel plant joining its ranks.
The Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha, a political platform, too was founded. Neogi was killed in 1990. He fell to an assassin's bullet in his union office in Bhilai. This, however, is one aspect of the story.
Twenty-five years after the CMSS came into being, ORT is no longer taboo among the people. Use of Pitocine is very rare. A hospital with 90 beds, an operation theatre, a pharmacy and more are in place. The hospital and its facilities are open to not just the mineworkers and their families. All those who live within a radius of 100 kilometres from Dalli Rajhara and cannot afford expensive medical treatment are treated here. "It is now a referral hospital in the region," says Dr. Jena, who has been here since 1977. Most in-patients, according to him, are not even remotely connected with the mines and the union. The mineworkers now enjoy ESI facility; so the hospital provides healthcare to others.
Dr. Jena, along with Dr. Ashis Kundu reached Dalli Rajhara in 1977, soon after he passed out from the National Medical College, Kolkota. They along with Dr. Vinayak Sen were active in student politics and opted to live among the mineworkers. Neogi had then come out with a slogan: "An initiative by the workers for their own health care" and internalised this into the agenda of the CMSS. Another integral aspect of the agenda was a campaign against consumption of liquor.
Inaugurated in June 1983 with just 10 beds, the Shaheed Hospital was built out of money and resources from the mineworkers. After the struggle against mechanisation in the mines, the CMSS launched its next agitation pressing for the rights of contract workers. This too was won and the contractors had to shell out around Rs. 2,00,000 to the mineworkers. The hospital project was conceived at this stage and the money was the resource for its construction. The workers did not stop there. They continued to contribute, making it possible for the team of dedicated doctors to enhance the facilities in the Shaheed Hospital.
While Dr. Jena has chosen to stay on in Dalli Rajhara, his comrades — Dr. Kundu and Dr. Vinayak Sen — are now involved in similar campaigns elsewhere. The Shaheed Hospital continues to attract medical professionals. Dr. Jena now has Dr. Koteswar, a qualified surgeon and Dr. Anil for company. The wards are filled with patients from far-flung areas. But the workers in the mines and the ranks of the CMSS continue to contribute to the running of the hospital. They have also managed, over the years, to build living quarters for the doctors and the para-medical staff.
The Shaheed Hospital, stresses Dr. Jena, is not a charity. Hence, the institution refuses to receive grants. Neither the state nor the non-government organisations are involved in its running. Instead, the hospital is an integral part in the political life of the mineworkers. The Shaheed Hospital is one of the many ideas that Shankar Guha Neogi sought to integrate into the political discourse. The fact that Neogi's followers not only sustained the idea but also enhanced the facilities in the hospital during the decade after his death is simply inspiring.
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