Golden Health Card

Trust adopts Mohali, Chandigarh and 150 villages in its vicinity

Understanding need and responsibility to share nation's cause and concern, Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib (C ) Eye Hospital Trust Sohana has taken a lead to provide healthcare facilities matching world level standards in remote and rural segments of Doaba region in Punjab. This Non-Profit institute is committed to upgrade living standards of masses particularly females. Taking a progressive measure, the Trust has decided to adopt towns of Mohali and Chandigarh along with 100 villages falling in the vicinity of trust-run Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Eye and Multi-Specialty Hospitals. The trust has developed a unique idea to issue a GOLDEN HEALTH CARD to each family residing in these villages. The Card will carry the names of all members of the family and this card will be distributed free of cost. It will act as a master health card for a family and any member whose names appears on the card can use this card, in case of need, any number of times and can avail a flat benefit of 25 percent off on treatment.

Apart from private sector expansion and corporatisation, another strong and undesirable character of the health sector in India is its neglect of rural areas where still over 70 per cent of the population resides. Today there are over 11 lakh registered medical practitioners of various systems in the country of which 60 percent are located in cities. In case of modern system (allopath) practitioners as much as 75 percent are located in cities and especially metropolitan areas. The main reason, thus, for underdevelopment of health care in rural areas is this vast rural-urban gap in provision of and location of health care resources.

The hospital while utilizing the services of highly professionalized team of youngsters has already started making person to person contact with each household at village level units since March 13, 2006. Over 23,000 household units spread over in 93 villages comprising over 1,15,00 persons have already been contacted by the canvassers. Apart from giving health talks, the project team is making villagers particularly female folks aware of the need to follow basic healthcare norms and distributing the literature regarding health awareness.

It is worth-mentioning that with a view to offer best of medical care to expected mothers, the Hospital has decided to offer Normal Delivery package at a very cheap rate of Rs. 2250 only so as to enable women to afford it.

Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Multi-Specialty Hospital authorities feel with rural areas being underserved two things have happened - a large number of unqualified people have set up medical practice and the rural population exerts pressure on facilities in the cities and towns thus affecting the efficiency and capacity of the latter. In spite of planned development over the last 60 years the State has failed in narrowing the rural-urban gap, and in fact at the behest of imperialist influence it has promoted strategies for rural health care which cause more harm than good for the health of the people. Under the umbrella of community health, the State has given rural areas third rate health care through its PHCs and that too only preventive (immunizations) and primitive (family planning) care; curative care which is the main demand of the people has been ignored in terms of investment and allocations and hence people in rural areas are left to the mercy of the exploitative private health sector which more often than not in rural areas comprises of unqualified providers.

Interestingly, the trust has decided to carry on such a massive project on its own without seeking aid or help from any quarter including state and central government. With facilities available at PHCs and government dispensaries in rotten shape and private hospitals and nursing homes falling out of common patient's budget, Golden Health Card from Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Multi-Specialty Hospital Sohana is expected do wonders in the field of health care. The hospital targets to cover over 50,000 households with over 2.5 lakh persons under its health care protection plan.