Rajasthan's Nurses And Widwives Taking Vaccination Drive To Its Poorest Tribals

Suman Devi, 48-year-old, an Auxiliary Nursing Midwife at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Vardara, situated amidst hilly terrains of the Kumbalgarh region in Rajsamand district, walks several kilometres to ensure that children in the tribal communities are vaccinated timely.

With the lack of cold storage facility available in the PHC, till a few months ago, it would take Suman and her colleagues three hours to reach out to the nearest community health centre - 30 kilometres from the PHC, just to get vaccination and immunisation doses for the children and pregnant women.

Vardara, situated around 92 kilometres from Udaipur, has recently received one of the Solar Direct Drives (SDDs) provided by the Government of Japan in partnership with UNICEF. The SDDs run on electricity provided by solar energy and can keep vaccines at their appropriate temperature, without the need for electricity from a national grid.

The cold chain point in the nearby Primary Health Center (PHC) where Suman works has helped to get the vaccines on time and also reach out to more children in the community for vaccination. The region is dominated by tribal populations and communities such as Gamiti, Kharwada, and Desana tribes. Reaching vaccination on time has always been a challenge as most PHCs face a lack of cold chain and manpower to reach the dose on time.

“In our region, it is challenging to maintain a cold chain for regular immunization and Covid-19 vaccination as the houses are scattered and the terrain is hilly. In the scorching Sun, it becomes difficult to reach out to the houses situated far off. Especially when the children are in school, one would have to wait for their return and then again get the vaccination from the PHC”, Suman Devi shared with Outlook.

“Since the last five months after the SDD was installed, the vaccine supply has improved in the tehsil. With a better cold chain making vaccination drive efficient among children, we can go door to door in the village at any convenient time for the family. Hence the dose is not delayed or missed. The solar refrigerators have made our work easy and productive”, added Suman.

Health officials informed that the SDDs have not only brought the vaccine closer to the community but have also ended chances of vaccine wastage due to power cuts.

“Every day around 200 vaccinations take place and the initiative has proved beneficial especially as our village witnesses huge power cut”, said Yogesh Kumar Garg, head of the nursing staff and in charge of SDD at the PHC in Vardara.

In Rajasthan in around 27 PHCs, solar refrigerators have been installed. The regions have witnessed a drastic change with vaccinations both regular as well as Covid-19 becoming available round the clock.

“The solar refrigerators have not only saved the medicine by giving it proper cold storage but made vaccination available round the clock. Earlier the regular immunization vaccines used to arrive at the PHC only on Thursdays but after the installation of solar refrigerators the vaccination is available round the clock”, added Dr Nikund Srivastava incharge of PHC at Balicha in Gogunda Tehsil of Udaipur. Like Vardara, Balicha too is nestled in the hills and is dominated by the tribal population.

According to experts, any vaccine must be stored at an optimum temperature (2-8 degree centigrade) before it is administered to any children. Rajasthan, which faces harsh temperatures in districts ranging from 0-50 degree centigrade during various times in years aims to bring cold chain points at least within 1 hour of travel distance to the beneficiary.

“We are working with the government of Rajasthan to ensure that children receive timely and quality vaccine services. Cold chain points play the most critical role in keeping the quality of vaccines intact. Quality vaccines help in binding the faith of the community to government services,” said Dr Anil Agarwal, Health Specialist, UNICEF Rajasthan.

Photo captions: An ANM carrying vaccines stored at SDD at PHC in Vardara, Rajsamand district.