Sonua village (West Singhbhum):
The Jharkhand government's tall claim of spending crores on rural health care doesn't mean anything for villagers in Sonua. The predominantly tribal village has seen seven diarrhoea deaths in as many days, but the only help these people have are anganwadi workers who are not trained to deal with emergencies.
Not a single doctor has visited the village in five years.
"There is no treatment available. It seems we will die here," said Somra, a patient.
But the state government claims to have spent Rs 1,000 crore over the last five years, reinforcing rural health care, upgrading village health centres and buying ambulances.
But ground reality says something else. There is no way to shift the patients out to bigger hospitals because there is no ambulance.
"It's sheer negligence on the part of doctors. We will suspend all doctors in the area and restore health services," said Hemlal Murmu, Jharkhand Health Minister.
But words alone are not enough to pacify the victims. What is needed is a stringent action on the part of the authorities.