Rural Health in Haryana: Social Issues and Way Ahead

INTRODUCTION

Health is a basic human need. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity to lead a socially and economically productive life (WHO, 1978). Health is increasingly being recognized as a critical human capital component which contributes significantly towards the development of a nation. Healthier people can work more productively, and more productivity means more contribution to economic growth (Schultz, 1961; Arrow, 1962; Mushkin, 1962; Romer, 1986; Zon and Muysken, 2003). Health is the most important asset of human being. It permits us to fully develop our capabilities. If this asset erodes or it is not properly developed, it can cause physical and emotional weakening, causing obstacles in the lives of people. Thus, health is the backbone of human resource (Mishra and Mishra, 2015). Health is one of the vital indicators reflecting quality of human life. With increased urbanization, industrialization and the changing environment, health related issues and problems are being emphasized and have become a great concern for the contemporary world. Health is multi-factorial.

The health status of people is related to the economic development of a country for three main reasons. First, as an indicator of economic development, it shows the capability and success or failure of a country to provide for the most basic needs of the people (food, clothing, shelter and sufficient sanitary conditions). The correlation between such crude indicators as child mortality and life expectancy on the one hand, and per capita income on the other, is very strong and well documented in economic literature. Secondly, health as a form of human capital is an input for the further development of country. There is plenty of evidence to support that health plays an important role in school enrolment and school performance of children, and in labor supply and productivity of adults and in earnings. The relationship between

1999). Therefore, improvements in health or better health would promote learning, reduce absence, improve stamina and would contribute to improve the economic status of the poor. Thirdly, the high infant and child mortality rates are among the most important factors related to high fertility rates, which in turn play a crucial role in development. Health increases the human capital inherent in the labor force, which in turn increases labor productivity and thus, transitional growth towards a higher equilibrium level of output (Mankiw, Romer, and Weil, 1992). Health increases the innovative capacity of the economy, and the new knowledge on new technologies, products and processes promotes growth (Lucas, 1988; Romer, 1990; Aghion and Howitt, 1998). There is also growing empirical evidence suggesting that there is a positive impact of improved health outcomes on the economic growth (Bloom et al, 2004; Li and Huang, 2009; Wang, 2011; Rajeshkumar and Nalraj, 2014; Mishra and Mishra, 2015). It is thus, cleared that health, wellness and economic development are inseparable. Good health improves human well-being and contributes to real economic growth of an economy through its positive impact on productivity growth. It has been found from country specific studies that low nutritional intake and subsequently poor health has its linkages with low levels of income. Therefore, it is imperative for the policy makers that good healthcare facilities be provided for creating healthy citizens and society that can effectively contribute to inclusive growth of the economy. Thus, investment in health and other related areas impacting people is not a matter of choice. It should be thought of as a compulsion. It is with this backdrop, the primary objective of this paper is to make an empirical study of the relationship between rural health and socio-economic growth of Haryana.

• To understand the social dynamics behind rural health • To know the efforts made by government in rural health sector. • To understand the way ahead to achieve better rural health.

Haryana is committed to provide quality health services and raise the health status of its people. National Rural Health Mission has been introduced in Haryana with a view to bring about improvement in the health status of people especially of those who live in rural areas of the country. The state of Haryana is steadily progressing towards attaining the in determining socio-economic conditions of the state. As Haryana is an agrarian state, in which majority of the population is indulged in primary sector activities and majority of population is living in the rural areas. And health being an important factor in human life. So focus on rural health is vital for state of Haryana. In today‘s perspective Haryana is moving in the direction of providing better health care facilities to the rural areas by opening PHCs, CHCs in villages and providing ambulance facilities to the patients.

• Haryana being a patriarchal society, which still follows the diktats of kangaroo courts like khap panchayat, face issues related to especially women. As women feel subjugated under male supremacy, which led to effect the health of women since from birth. As girl child receive less calorie diet in comparison to male child and thus face poor protein deficiency and ultimately lead to poor health. And another fact is this that such biasedness is more observed in rural areas. • Another social pressure on women health is related to biological feature of women body, which is menstrual cycle. As lots of social stigmas are attached to this biological phenomenon in society. Women are treated as such they are spreading impurity and this notion in society leads to pressure on women to discuss this issue openly. Thus they face the risk of various kinds of infections which effect the health and leads to severe impact on their body. And this issue is more persistent in rural society. As girl child is less educated in rural areas, so they remain less aware. • Another social problem is early age marriage pressure on women which leads to early pregnancy and such pressure on young body leads to diseases like anemic pregnant women and thus resulting in poor health conditions of both mother and child. And this social phenomenon is more observed in rural areas as level of education is less. • Women also face the demand of producing male child and this unwanted pressure on women many times result in series of abortions(in case of girl child) and multiple

One of the major failures of the state government has been its inability to stem the menace of drug abuse in Haryana society. The state lacks a robust set of regulations for handling of drug addicts and for their treatment. While addicts in the state require treatment and rehabilitation, peddlers require punishment. This difference is often blurred and those requiring medication, attention, and affection are often punished. The state's support of treatment and rehabilitation centers is highly inadequate as is the ability of law enforcement to curb the cultivation and import of banned substances. Youth in Haryana is also facing the bad effect on their health due to evils like alcohol and drug abuse. In recent times the ratio of drugs abuse has shot up and major effect is observed in rural areas. Another issue is of age related health problems, old age people especially female face health issues in rural areas. As many families are moving to urban areas in search of better opportunities, in such circumstances the family structure is breaking into nuclear family structure. Thus leading into negligence of old parents, which leads to poor health of elderly people in dearth of proper care. Poverty is another social hindrance in rural health. As majority of lower income groups of villages are living in tough economic conditions, which leads to improper diet and lack of protein diet and causing health issues. Accessibility to health facilities is a critical factor in effective health treatment for people in rural areas of lesser-developed countries like India. In many areas accessibility is diminished by the lack of all-weather roads, making access subject to weather conditions. Location–allocation models have been used to prescribe optimal configurations of health facilities in order to maximize accessibility20, but these models are based on the assumption that the underlying transport network is static and always available. Essentially, past work has ignored the potential impacts of improvements to the transport system in modeling access.

Well networked health care system access to healthcare in rural areas is far from satisfactory. In the current scenario, 75% of the qualified consulting doctor‘s practice in urban, 23% in semi-urban (towns) and only 2% in rural areas where as the vast majority of population live in the rural areas. Hospital

JSY Scheme (GoI): The JSY Scheme has been implemented in the State of Haryana in right earnest since its inception in 2005.Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) aims at reducing maternal and neo-natal mortality by encouraging and increasing institutional deliveries. In this scheme cash incentive is given to the mother during her post-

The scheme is applicable for the BPL women of all categories for deliveries at home or institutions, Govt. or accredited private and SC/ST families. The scheme is also applicable for non-BPL SC/ST women but only for deliveries at a Govt. institution or at an accredited private institution. Janani Suraksha Yojna (State Plan): This scheme was launched in April, 2008 under the State Plan. Under this scheme an assistance of Rs.1500/- is given to each pregnant woman belonging to SC/ST family for delivery in the health institution, be it in Govt. or Private sector, provided she is above 19 years of age. This assistance is given in three installments i.e. 1st installment of Rs.500/- on registration of pregnancy case, second installment of Rs.500/- on getting check-up done in 3rd trimester and Rs.500/- on the day of delivery or maximum within 5 working days after delivery. Even for a pregnant SC/ST woman coming directly for delivery to the institution without any prior antenatal check-up, full payment of Rs.1500/- is made.

Other schemes started by government in the rural areas are Kishori scheme, Ladlischeme, Ayushman yojana.

As discussed in the paper, rural health is an important aspect in the state of Haryana, as majority of state population belongs to the rural areas and the right strategies in the direction to achieve progressive and healthy rural society. As discussed in the paper, how women are facing the health crisis in rural Haryana, so state government need to work with social sector and social groups to work for the awareness required, especially by targeting the prevailing social norms and as women constitute around half of the population, therefore it is necessary to work for this group, for better socio-economic development. Other areas like children, youth etc. also need to be enrolled in the government based schemes and provide a solid platform based on the bedrock of good health and therefore pave the way for a healthy and progressive nation.

REFERENCES:

Census of India (2001). Primary Census Abstract (PCA),Directorate of Census Operations Haryana, Chandigarh. Gopalan, Sarla (2002). ‗Towards Equality: The Unfinished Agenda: St at us of Women in India‘, National Commission for Women ,Government of India, New Delhi. IFPRI, ―Agriculture and Rural Development for reducing Poverty and Hunger in Asia‖, www.adb.org/prcm. http://indiafacts.in/india-census-2011/urban-rural-population-o-india. http://www.rural.nic.in. Health Department of Haryana. National Health Mission (NHM). NRHM Haryana.gov.in

M.A Sociology, UGC/Net, MDU, Rohtak, Haryana