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Bridging
the Gap... No rural health center or hospital, no agro-service center or vocational training center, no women resource center, no community center and no flood rescue center. The riverine (island) areas of South Sunderban in West Bengal have been in a state of neglect for decades. Abject poverty, along with a perennial struggle for existence in the midst of frequent natural calamities such as devastating floods and cyclones, characterizes the life of the inhabitants here. The local village population subsists by collecting wood from the mouth of the Royal Bengal Tigers, agricultural laboring, and by netting and fishing in the coastal seas.
In the absence of access to any women resource center or rural health services, the local populace often falls prey to curable diseases like tuberculosis, cholera, jaundice, diphtheria, mumps, etc. The situation is compounded by the absence of any hygienic drinking water or sanitation and by recurring cyclonic floods. Most of the child-birth deliveries here are performed by untrained midwives. In the event of a medical emergency, the closest hospital from Baikunthapur is at Raidighi, which is 3 1/2 hours by motor-boat and another hour by foot. All motor-boats leave Baikunthapur in the morning and a special boat needs to be hired if an emergency sets later in the day. The boat hiring charges are about Rs.600-700 and often force the poor desperate villagers to borrow from the local "loan sharks" at very high interest rates and heavy collateral. And thus starts a vicious circle of dependence and exploitation. To read the health study report put together by BTS, click here.
To make a contribution towards the boat hiring charges of the villagers click here. All donations are tax exempt in the USA and you shall be provided with complete details of how your contribution (however small) is being utilized by BTS. |
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Ekjut
worked with BTS to cover the boat-hiring charges for the villagers
that need emergency medical evacuation from Baikunthapur and other neighboring
villages to Raidighi or any other neighboring hospital. BTS
has a vision and an aspiration to setup a local healthcare center in
Baikunthapur, replete with emergency medical equipment, a qualified
doctor, motor boat and emergency medications which shall be run democratically
by the villagers.