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How India's Hospitals Fall Short, in Photos

June 16, 2014 | GlobalPost
By
Sami Siva

A pregnant woman waits for delivery at the primary health centre in Borsul village. Primary health centers typically provide basic health care services as well as antenatal and postnatal care for women. Image by Sami Siva. India, 2014.

A man is taken in a stretcher in the Civil Hospital by his relatives. At overcrowded government hospitals, relatives and family members may aid in moving patients or administering IVs. Image by Sami Siva. India, 2014.

A doctor writes prescription for a patient with hand injury at the primary health centre in Borsul village. Image by Sami Siva. India, 2014.

Mothers and infants seen at the paediatric ward at the Bardwan medical college hospital in Bardwan, West Bengal. Infant mortalities were reported in many of the government run hospitals in West Bengal due to over crowding and lack of medical staff and treatment facilities. Image by Sami Siva. India, 2014.

Mother of an infant waits outside of the intensive care unit at the Bardwan medical college hospital in Bardwan, West Bengal. Image by Sami Siva. India, 2014.

Old and broken medical equipments seen dumped on the staircases in Burdwan Medical College hospitals, Burdwan, West Bengal. Image by Sami Siva. India, 2014.

A man waits to get medications at the pharmacy in primary health centre in Borsul village, West Bengal. Image by Sami Siva. India, 2014.

WEST BENGAL, India — Across the country, access to health care is still a challenge for many people. Most government-run primary health centers in rural areas lack good hygiene, infrastructure and the medical staff to provide first-rate treatment for patients. Such shortcomings result in the overcrowding of hospitals in urban areas. In cities like Calcutta, the bigger hospitals face such an overwhelmingly high number of patients that they have insufficient doctors and resources to provide good medical care.

I recently traveled to India to photograph and study the country’s health care system for a project supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. This series of photographs shows the every day conditions of India’s hospitals. As part of this project I visited hospitals in the states of West Bengal, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, focusing on infant mortality, government-run insurance schemes and the denial of treatment for HIV patients.