Imkong Walling
The medical sector would serve as an apt example of how sometimes statistics can be misleading. Today, there are government-run health establishments, starting from 200-bed district hospitals down to primary care centres at the grassroots. It all looks good on paper. The state has put in place the basic health care, kudos.
But these establishments require things to deliver what they are supposed to provide— reliable services, which is where the assumed sense of comfort fades away.
The shortcomings are apparent, among which includes ‘Blood Centres,’ also known as blood banks, which Nagaland has only a handful, if not less. It would come as a surprise that Nagaland has just 4 such centres in operation, with the fourth inaugurated a day earlier, on March 19, 2020, at the Christian Institute of Health Sciences & Research, Dimapur.
It happened to be the second for Dimapur district, the other being the one attached to the government District Hospital. The other two are attached to the District Hospitals in Kohima (NHAK) and Mokokchung (IMDH).
To pry open further, out of the three government-run blood centres, only the Dimapur District Hospital and NHAK has blood component separation capability. In the latter’s case, it began operating the blood component separation feature only as recently as 2021.
Besides, plotting these four centres on the map of Nagaland would bring up the obvious mismatch with respect to the medical services provided by the government— one located at a major transit point but short of equipment, and in most instances unable to cater to the needs of the districts east and south of Mokokchung. The other three, located far west and far removed from the greater parts of the state.
Nagaland state will turn 60 in 2023. It has been a long march and so much has changed over the past 58 years; the state of affairs, relatively better than say, 30 years ago. But quantifying ‘change’ in terms of material comforts only scratches the surface as opposed to what statistics would project.
The writer is a Principal Correspondent at The Morung Express. Comments can be sent to imkongwalls@gmail.com
