Access to health facilities
Health facilities in TMK include Rural and Primary Health Centers (RHCs and PHCs), Basic Health Units (BHUs), government dispensaries and hospitals, and private hospitals/clinics. The community prefers to receive treatment from hospitals rather than traditional or spiritual healers. Majority of the local population seeks care at public hospitals because they are free of cost and are easily accessible. Since most residents of TMK live in poverty, free consultations and medicines were conveyed as the primary reason for visiting public hospitals.
Many community members stressed that were they financially capable, they would opt to visit private facilities for multiple reasons. Public hospitals are piled with complaints such as absence of staff, unfriendly attitude of physicians, long waiting periods, lack of medical equipment and substandard quality of care. Additionally, government facilities are not functional after 2pm, and so are unable to tend to most medical emergencies in the area.
Some rural areas do not have any health facilities and residents are forced to travel long distances to urban localities. There was a unanimous opinion among the community that quality of care needs to be significantly improved at public health facilities, with 24-hour operational services for medical emergencies.