Why Bengaluru’s sanitation workers are falling sick despite regular ‘health camps’

Sanitation workers have died of dengue and chikungunya, and have suffered with no medical insurance.

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Over five months ago, 40-year-old Venkatamma, a pourakarmika (sanitation worker) working in Bengaluru’s ward number 27 (Banaswadi) contracted chikungunya. Venkatammma took four days off from work hoping that her fever would go away. On day five, Venkatamma went back to work, despite severe pain in her joints. A week later, Venkatamma succumbed to her illness.

Ammu (20), Venkatamma’s daughter says that she had taken her mother to Specialty Hospital in Banaswadi and doctors concluded that she had chikungunya.

“We took her home as we could not afford to admit her in the hospital. But my mother did not get better. She went back to work after four days when her fever came down. But she was very weak and had immense body pain,” Ammu says.

Venkatakamma’s colleague Odooramma (43), who also works in the same ward in Banaswadi contracted chikungunya a week after Venkatamma’s death. Odooramma, who supports a large family was also unable to take time off from work to recuperate. She succumbed to her illness on June 17.

“She had taken loans to marry off my older sisters and she would say that if she missed a day’s work, she would not be able to pay interest. I had saved some money and we took her to Fortis Hospital. They said it was chikungunya,” says Geeta, Odooramma’s youngest daughter.

No Employees State Insurance (ESI) cards

In both these cases, the civic body – Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)- had not issued them their insurance or ESI cards, which would have helped them obtain free medical treatment. Despite a government order passed in 2016, which made it mandatory for the BBMP health officers at the ward level to collect the necessary information from the pourakarmikas and issue ESI cards, many of them have not received it.

Appanna, a pourakarmika from Mahadevapura, says that he had contracted dengue a month ago. Appanna’s colleagues in the ward too, had got dengue. “We work with garbage and there are mosquitoes everywhere we work. I have got dengue thrice in three years. Other pourakarmikas I know have also got it many times. But no one cares about us,” he says.

Speaking to TNM, Nirmala, President of the BBMP Contract Pourakarmikas’ Union, says that the health officers have entrusted the job of collecting the data from the pourakarmikas to the contractors (mestris) in every ward.

“The contractors are not the ones who have to do this job. Health officers have to help us fill the forms if we don’t know how to read or write and process it. This work has not been done. In Mahadevapura alone, over 15 pourakarmikas had contracted dengue,” Nirmala says.

Dr Vijayendra, Chief Health Officer of the BBMP says that the Zonal Health Officers must ensure that the junior officers are carrying out their duties properly. “There were problems with biometrics and we had to weed out so many fake names. Once that was sorted out, we are now issuing the ESI cards to all of them,” he claimed.

BBMP health camps an eye wash?

Dr Siddappaji, Health Officer for East Zone says that the BBMP conducts health camps for pourakarmikas once every three months. “These camps are conducted to see if they have any illnesses. Pourakarmikas need this as they come into contact with garbage, dust and sewage on a daily basis. Since they are exposed to toxic materials every day, it is necessary to keep tabs on their health,” he says.

He says that although the health camps are conducted regularly, the footfalls are low. Refuting Dr Siddappaji’s claims, Gangamma, who is also a member of the BBMP Contract Pourakarmikas’ Union, says that the BBMP’s health camps are an eye wash.

“They line us up and click pictures of us. They sometimes take our blood samples but nothing happened after that. There is no word on our health condition. It is done just to show that the work is being done. Even I am a pourakarmika and I know. They can’t blame us and say that pourakarmikas don’t show up for health camps. If it was worth the while, we would have gone,” she says.