‘Rarely Do We Have Stories That Question Functioning Of Corporate Hospitals’

An independent documentary film-maker based in Delhi, Shikha Jhingan, has taken a macro look at the politics of healthcare in the post globalisation scenario in her documentary —‘Health Matters’. Some of her past works include ‘Once this land was Ours’, ‘The Hidden Story’, Prisoner of Gender’, winner of the Silver Panda award at the international television documentary festival held in Cheng du in 1991 and ‘Born to Sing’. Shikha tells Rita Dutta about what inspired her to make the film, the hurdles that she faced during filming and how she plans to use it

First let me congratulate you for capturing the inadequacy, commercialisation and some reforms in healthcare industry so brilliantly in your lens. How did the idea of making the film generate?

My initial plans were to make a film on community health initiatives. An English translation of a book by Anil Awachats, which had an essay on Abhay and Rani Bang, set me thinking about issues of rural health. But when I started working on the proposal, I knew that I will have to expand the framework in which I want to conceive the documentary. In January 2004, I came to attend the International Health Forum (IHF) in Mumbai, which had a tremendous impact on me. It made me realise that though the public health system is rife with problems, one still needs to engage with it constructively. I often saw journalistic reports in the media about the terrible state of affairs in public tertiary care hospitals, problems of medical negligence. But rarely do we find any stories that question the functioning of the big corporate hospitals that have started mushrooming in India.

As a media person, I realised how difficult it is to get any access to these hospitals. I knew that I was up for an uphill task, since the canvas of the film was very broad and the challenge was to draw connections between a PHC in a rural area and the state of the public hospitals in the cities.

Finally, through the stories of Gajanan, Alimuddin and Nirmala I wanted to bring out people’s everyday experiences with the healthcare system.

How did you research for the film?

The stories built around the Fortis Hospital and Apollo Hospital bring into the film a certain perspective which can perhaps enrich our viewing of Gajanan and Alimuddin’s stories. Dr Sanjay Nagral’s interventions also helped in giving some perspective to the debate. Dr Amit Sen Gupta helped me with the information on the text, which I have used as a narrative device.

How difficult was it to convince the wronged patients to share their ordeal and do follow-up with them to the hospitals?

I must admit that it was not easy. The story of Amit Kashyap, who was asked half an hour before his mother’s operation if both of her knees could be operated while only one was supposed to be giving her trouble, happened right in front of our eyes. We had not planned it, but it unfolded by coincidence on the day we were shooting in Fortis. The Apollo Hospital management was very cagey about our shooting and severely put lot of limitations on us. There was no way that we could have followed any story there. They gave us permission but with great difficulty.

Did you take permission to shoot or was it done by sting operation?

I do not believe in sting operations. None of the shooting was done with a hidden camera. But in Chattisgarh, we made sure that no one knew that we were going to land up in the PHC. It was like a surprise shoot and we found that not a single doctor was available though officially two doctors should have been present. The situation was similar in a PHU in Ghadchiroli. The worst experience I had was in AIIMS, where the PRO made me come with my entire crew and equipment but refused to let me shoot without giving any valid reason. I had to take help of a junior doctor to enter a ward and take a few shots.

There are so many NGOs ushering reforms to our ailing healthcare sector. Why did you choose to highlight only SEARCH?

I have included two local initiatives, SEARCH and the Mitanin project of Chattisgarh. One is a small NGO initiative and the other is more of a state health department programme. Both are important in their own context.

How did you finance the film? How do you plan to use the film?

The film has been funded by HIVOS. But this film is a part of a much larger project. I am making a film on rural community health initiatives, which have been shot in four locations. That film ‘Bare foot Doctors’ is being made in four languages. Health Matters is also being dubbed in Hindi and I want to show it in Alimuddi’s slums in Seema Puri as soon as it is ready.

All the films need to be disseminated widely through the help of civil society organisations. I am also creating a website called ‘Our Health In Our Hands’ - www.ohioh.org, which also has its focus on intitiatives on community health. For this film, I have shot in Tribal Health Initiative another local initiative in Sittiling in Tamil Nadu and Prayas in Rajasthan.

rita@expresshealthcaremgmt.com