THE BACKDROP OF MY CLINICS IN SONAGACHI - A RED-LIGHT AREA IN KOLKATA

I have been working in the red-light area of Sonagachi since 2001. Initially my clinics were held at a single center but now there are two such centers in the same locality. The centers are unique in concept as these function as ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) centers in the morning and also as child drop-in centers in the evening hours, when the mothers are busy servicing clients. It is during the evening hours that I conduct my weekly clinics that are attended by the children, their parents and a certain group of sponsored aged sex workers who are no more in the profession but are in need of regular health check-ups.

To understand the nature of the centers, we must try and understand the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), the most important national scheme in the field of child welfare, initiated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Women’s Welfare, Govt of India in 1975. The scheme has been implemented and upgraded to cover the urban poor living in recognized slums and has since been extended to include the urban poor who reside in temporary and illegal settlements in the cities and those residing in red-light areas and remain vulnerable to frequent political, communal or state sponsored violence.

Each of these centres in the red-light area of Sonagachi cater to 1000 urban poor population in accordance with the GOI Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and provide for health check-ups, immunization against tetanus, regular immunization, supplementary nutrition, iron and folic acid supplements, health education, family planning facilities and referrals if necessary for pregnant women, nursing mothers and their children and other women between the ages of 15 to 45 years as per the merit of the case. The sex workers between 15 to 45 years if suffering from STIs are treated as per National AIDS Control Program (NACP) guidelines. Children upto the age of 6 years attending these centres are also provided with nutritional support, regular health check-up, non-formal education and referral services. The children are referred to the nearby KMC Urban Unit / Govt Hospital for regular immunization and vit A supplements and both adults and children are referred to the same KMC Urban Unit for diagnosis and treatment of fever cases like malaria. The costs of all medications and investigations prescribed by me are borne by Women’s Interlink Foundation, the NGO that runs these centers and our efforts over the years have culminated in significant reduction of malnutrition, morbidity and mortality in the target population.

The organisation also ensures that the children are mainstreamed in formal schools in due time with their progress in school being subject to continuous monitoring by the supervisors of the centers. Thus there has been an appreciable reduction in the school drop-out rate through awareness generation among the sex workers on the need to educate their children and by ensuring extra nutritional and educational supports (evening snacks, remedial classes, educational materials, school uniforms, bags and shoes) to the same children during their daily four hours evening stay at the drop-in centers beyond the regular ICDS guidelines. Recreational activities like annual picnics, visits to the zoo and extra curricular activities like dancing and drawing are highly encouraged. Arrangements have been made by WIF, the concerned NGO to train the willing children under the expert guidance of a dance teacher leading to successful public dance programs on the stage.

It has also been a constant endeavour of the organization to place as many girl children of the sex workers, on parental request, in its care home “NIJOLOY”, away from sonagachi, where they will be able to continue their formal education, their dancing classes and also undertake vocational trainings in block printing and tailoring under the watchful eyes of dedicated house mothers and grow up into responsible young adults who will have no link with this trade in the future. The stay at NIJOLOY with all its facilities is free for the children, with financial responsibilities being shouldered by WIF and its sponsors.