WUNRN
Human Rights Watch - January 10,
2011
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/01/10/india-drop-charges-against-maternal-death-protesters -
Also Via Women's Livelihoods - PWESCR
Protesters listen to each other¹s maternal health
travails near Barwani district hospital, Madhya Pradesh, December 28, 2010.
© 2010 SATHI
Tribal women participate in a protest rally to highlight maternal deaths. Banners read: "We Need Answers For the [Maternal] Deaths in the Hospital", Barwani, Madhya Pradesh, December 28, 2010.
© 2010 SATHI
(
About 1,000 people gathered peacefully on December 28 in the Barwani
district to protest the high numbers of maternal deaths at the district
hospital there and the lack of accountability for the deaths. Law enforcement
officials arrested one protester, threatened to arrest others, and issued a
warrant for another participant on charges of rioting, being part of an
unlawful assembly, and obstructing public servants from performing their
duties.
"It is shocking that even as India takes on an international mandate
to strengthen accountability for the health of women and children, back home
officials are using the criminal justice system to punish messengers who report
maternal deaths," said Aruna Kashyap, Asia women's rights researcher at
Human Rights Watch. "Indian authorities should instead secure democratic
spaces where such deaths can be reported and investigated without
backlash."
The authorities should drop all charges against the protesters and tell the
police to stop threatening peaceful protesters going forward, Human Rights
Watch said.
In November 2010, activists recorded nine maternal deaths at the Barwani
district hospital, even though the hospital is designated a comprehensive
emergency obstetric care unit, which should be equipped to deal with childbirth
complications around-the-clock. Despite a 2010 national policy mandating states
to investigate maternal deaths and take corrective action, the state did not
review the circumstances that led to any of the deaths.
Tribal communities in this region face daunting challenges in getting
life-saving maternal health care, Human Rights Watch said. The Barwani district
recorded at least 25 maternal deaths between April and November 2010. Health
rights activists also recorded a number of cases in which pregnant women who
sought emergency obstetric care had been turned away from the Barwani district
hospital and referred to a larger hospital in
The December 28 rally was held by tribal communities in this district and
activists from the Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, a grassroots organization of
tribal and dalit communities, because the Indian health system has no mechanism
for officially airing and redressing grievances. Instead of listening and responding
to the concerns about poor maternal health care in the region, district health
authorities brought in the police.
The case of Vapari Bai, 22-year-old woman from the Bhil Barela tribe,
highlights many of the problems with access to maternal health care in the
region, Human Rights Watch said. Medical doctors who saw her hospital records
and spoke to Vapari Bai's family told Human Rights Watch that on November 27,
2010, when she was eight months pregnant, Vapari Bai had a convulsion and
needed emergency care.
Because they had no other mode of transportation, her family carried her in
a jhuli (cloth sling) more than 10 kilometers on foot to reach an
ambulance. By the time she reached Barwani district hospital, the physician
activists said, she exhibited clear symptoms of eclampsia, a complication that
can cause death.
Despite her condition, doctors at the hospital did not carry out emergency
childbirth procedures that might have saved her, the medical advocates told
Human Rights Watch. The doctors at the hospital instead administered medication
to reduce her blood pressure and left Vapari Bai unattended.
Though Vapari Bai was in severe distress, doctors at the hospital did not
respond to repeated requests by her family for further medical attention.
Instead, a doctor at Barwani hospital told her family to take her to a medical
college hospital in
While
"The Barwani deaths are an unfortunate reminder to the Indian
government that it still has a long way to go to eliminate disparities in
maternal health," Kashyap said. "Reducing these disparities is
central to creating an accountable health system."
The National Rural Health Mission, India's flagship program on rural
health, aims to address disparities. One of its objectives, it says, is to
"improve access to rural people, especially poor women and children to
equitable, affordable, accountable and effective primary health care."
The Indian government should immediately ensure that all states are
carrying out its national policy to investigate maternal deaths, Human Rights
Watch said. The government should also create grievance redress mechanisms that
are accessible to communities in which many people are poor and illiterate,
Human Rights Watch said. Such systems will ensure that
"Instead of muzzling people's grievances, the Indian central and state
governments should devise accessible and effective grievance redress mechanisms
for complaints about health services." Kashyap said. "This will
demonstrate to the international community that it pays more than just lip
service to accountability."