During the last few weeks or so various news about organisation of free health camps in multiple   locations   of the state, mostly in   rural   pockets   have emerged. And the common picture that has emerged is the overwhelming response and praise from the patients.

There will be no difficulty for anyone to guess the cause of this reaction displayed by them. It is not because these are free camps, but it is inadequacy of the conventional mechanism of delivering healthcare support to the people that has led to this mad rush. Strikingly, the scenario is akin all over rural India.

Inspite of the fact that the country has recorded a marked decrease in infant and maternal mortality rate from 74 deaths per 1000 live births in 1994 to 34 in 2016, it can’t also be denied that after decades of freedom, we are far from overcoming the   challenge of   ensuring   availability of basic healthcare services to   entire population.

As per   latest figures, the country has one allopathic government doctor for every 11,082 residents, 11 times more than the WHO recommended doctor-population ratio of 1:1000. This is just a pick   from an array of equally dismal figures.

Again, the urban and rural divide factor is too stark to overlook. Although a staggering 70% of the population still lives in rural areas, access to hospitals and clinics are either nil or limited. In urban centres, numerous private hospitals and clinics   provide quality healthcare, with doctors more than requirement. Whereas,in rural areas it becomes quite a headache for the governments   to deploy doctors.

With this the reality, it is not surprising that the rural populace has   started bestowing faith in these   health camps. In   absence of   quality healthcare in   rural and remote locations, conducting free   camps   has proven to be a very viable option.The encouraging part is that the effort has been simultaneous from both government and non-government organizations alike.

Health camps   normally provide   a range of comprehensive health facilities including preventive, referral, promotive and curative to the people. The   need at this moment is to organise such health camps regularly along with   quick follow-ups of the medical cases at particular intervals of time. Experiences have also shown that before setting up camps of these natures, it is necessary to do adequate homework. The idea must be to reach out to the masses with ample publicity so that   intended awareness is generated and nobody of the immediate vicinity is left out.

If the long-term health   flagship initiatives of both   central and state governments are pillars of the   country’s health delivery apparatus, health camps , although ad hoc in character must be duly patronized for reaching the larger objective of an Ayushman Bharat.