The polio campaign had entered its most critical phase. It was facing hostile reaction from a very small segment of anti-campaign leadership, but their command on the masses was much stronger than the official one. The worst part was that the most critical element of official campaign was also the weakest link, and it was affecting the progress badly.
Every weekend when the officials started at 7 am in the morning and returned after the compilation of the figures from the block by late evening, they complained; and the complaints were gradually becoming louder. “Why should the Doctors leave their practice and move from house to house facing humiliation? After all our SDO Sahib will not write their ACR”, senior officials would say.
Shocking incidents took place at times. A lady had been divorced after she had given polio drops to her child. Amit felt like interfering though his officials but that could have caused reaction and he had to remain silent. The number of volunteers who were being beaten was increasing. On one of the occasions Amit was forced to call the police (against the decision to keep the campaign non-coercive) to an institution from where the head was creating disturbance. The old man was asked to give the polio drops by his own hand to his grand children to send the right message in the village.
One of those days when Amit was in a semi urban municipality, there was news that an early born child had died. She had also been given the polio drops that day and now the mob had build up and they had surrounded the volunteer. Luckily the place was barely two kilometers from where Amit was and they had to rush to reach the spot. The volunteer was petrified and was crying inconsolably, begging mercy from the crowd.
When Amit reached there he was received by a large and hostile crowd. The father of the child angrily rushed inside his hut and took out the body of the child, born full 6 weeks ahead of the delivery date. The body was very small, weak and underdeveloped. There was again a furore in the crowd and the lady once again screamed with fear.
The doctor who had accompanied Amit tried to defend the health worker, “This was an early born child, clearly so weak, how could it have survived? Who is blaming the health worker? She did the right thing; this drop should have been given earlier. It could have built some immunity in the body”.
Crowd was perplexed by the logic. Then someone from the neighbourhood said that it was one of the twins born, the first one had died immediately after the birth some 7 days back. Even the father of the child accepted that the other twin had died immediately after the birth. Then the BDO questioned him that when the other child had died without the polio drops then how he was blaming the present incident to the polio drops.
Just to nib the problem in its bud, Amit asked to register a case against the main culprit, a politically motivated person, and the ‘leaders’ in this matter. They were soon totally defensive.
Shortly there was to be held a meeting with a senior minister and doctors in the subdivision. That far barring a few health officials, there had been lukewarm response in general. Should he speak out or not and where was the question before Amit. The officials of health administration were trying to convince him that things had improved drastically and speaking something to the minister could antagonize the health officials
During the public address of the dignitary to the department concerned Amit was to speak first. He began with an apology and went on to explain that how the Junior Engineers and Assistant engineers, head clerks, school teachers and anganwadi workers had all gone out to field with polio vials. But it was his inability to raise the interest of the appropriate stake holders to participate in the programme and if this did not change, momentum may not be maintained longer.
There was press around, there was whole concerned fraternity around and the comments of SDO were brutally blunt. It was obvious one of the parties will have to quit the screen, either him or the non participating officials.
By evening, number of transfer orders had started pouring in. People were to move out of their long established fiefdoms. Amit was to stay and complete the mission. In the days to come, even Doctors faced the public wrath but that helped their resolution to solve the problem once for all. The ‘Convergence Model’, the officially coined term for the campaign, was to be quoted in international seminars and replicated across the state and later in other parts of the country. Thousands of volunteers had worked across departments reaching house after house morning to evening for days, hundreds of meetings and rallies were held over months; but it had meant success.
Every weekend when the officials started at 7 am in the morning and returned after the compilation of the figures from the block by late evening, they complained; and the complaints were gradually becoming louder. “Why should the Doctors leave their practice and move from house to house facing humiliation? After all our SDO Sahib will not write their ACR”, senior officials would say.
Shocking incidents took place at times. A lady had been divorced after she had given polio drops to her child. Amit felt like interfering though his officials but that could have caused reaction and he had to remain silent. The number of volunteers who were being beaten was increasing. On one of the occasions Amit was forced to call the police (against the decision to keep the campaign non-coercive) to an institution from where the head was creating disturbance. The old man was asked to give the polio drops by his own hand to his grand children to send the right message in the village.
One of those days when Amit was in a semi urban municipality, there was news that an early born child had died. She had also been given the polio drops that day and now the mob had build up and they had surrounded the volunteer. Luckily the place was barely two kilometers from where Amit was and they had to rush to reach the spot. The volunteer was petrified and was crying inconsolably, begging mercy from the crowd.
When Amit reached there he was received by a large and hostile crowd. The father of the child angrily rushed inside his hut and took out the body of the child, born full 6 weeks ahead of the delivery date. The body was very small, weak and underdeveloped. There was again a furore in the crowd and the lady once again screamed with fear.
The doctor who had accompanied Amit tried to defend the health worker, “This was an early born child, clearly so weak, how could it have survived? Who is blaming the health worker? She did the right thing; this drop should have been given earlier. It could have built some immunity in the body”.
Crowd was perplexed by the logic. Then someone from the neighbourhood said that it was one of the twins born, the first one had died immediately after the birth some 7 days back. Even the father of the child accepted that the other twin had died immediately after the birth. Then the BDO questioned him that when the other child had died without the polio drops then how he was blaming the present incident to the polio drops.
Just to nib the problem in its bud, Amit asked to register a case against the main culprit, a politically motivated person, and the ‘leaders’ in this matter. They were soon totally defensive.
Shortly there was to be held a meeting with a senior minister and doctors in the subdivision. That far barring a few health officials, there had been lukewarm response in general. Should he speak out or not and where was the question before Amit. The officials of health administration were trying to convince him that things had improved drastically and speaking something to the minister could antagonize the health officials
During the public address of the dignitary to the department concerned Amit was to speak first. He began with an apology and went on to explain that how the Junior Engineers and Assistant engineers, head clerks, school teachers and anganwadi workers had all gone out to field with polio vials. But it was his inability to raise the interest of the appropriate stake holders to participate in the programme and if this did not change, momentum may not be maintained longer.
There was press around, there was whole concerned fraternity around and the comments of SDO were brutally blunt. It was obvious one of the parties will have to quit the screen, either him or the non participating officials.
By evening, number of transfer orders had started pouring in. People were to move out of their long established fiefdoms. Amit was to stay and complete the mission. In the days to come, even Doctors faced the public wrath but that helped their resolution to solve the problem once for all. The ‘Convergence Model’, the officially coined term for the campaign, was to be quoted in international seminars and replicated across the state and later in other parts of the country. Thousands of volunteers had worked across departments reaching house after house morning to evening for days, hundreds of meetings and rallies were held over months; but it had meant success.
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