HR Singh sees 50 patients a day. The health centre or rural hospital that he runs in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Chitrakoot district serves 20 villages within 10 km as their only medical facility. Mr Singh is no doctor, he is a pharmacist, but in the absence of a doctor he hands out basic medicines for common illnesses like fever and cold. For the next two days he will not even be able to do that. Mr Singh has been called up for election duty, which means that he will have to travel to Karvi, about 12 km from Chitrakoot. The Unchadih Primary healthcare centre, which should have at least six staffers including one doctor, will remain closed because its only staff member Mr Singh will be away.
