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‘I’ve left it to God’: Imphal out of reach for many, Manipur’s healthcare system is faltering

A visit to Churachandpur district hospital highlights glaring issues – from lack of specialists to stretched facilities

Chinkhoneng and her husband at a relief camp. She is receiving treatment for breast cancer. (Express Photo: Sukrita Baruah)

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In a state where the healthcare system is heavily concentrated in and dependent on the capital, patients in Manipur who have lost access to Imphal because of the ethnic divide have been hit hard.

Both tertiary government hospitals in the state are located in Imphal: the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital run by the state government and the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital run by the Centre. Top private hospitals such as Shija Hospitals and Research Institute and Raj Medicity are also located in the capital, which is dominated by Meiteis and currently out of reach for the Kuki-Zomi community, which has a larger presence in the hills.

Churachandpur District Hospital. (Express photo: Sukrita Baruah)

Outside of the valley, the biggest state-run hospital is Churachandpur District Hospital, located in the heart of the Kuki-Zomi dominated town. Though just a one-hour drive from Imphal in normal times, doctors in the hospital and patients in the town say they have never been more separated from resources in the capital.

“There were things that we were lacking here but because Imphal was so near, we never truly felt it. Now it’s become so evident,” said Dr Biakdiki, a senior doctor in the district hospital.

When The Indian Express visited, the hospital was swamped with patients during OPD timings, but the real crisis, doctors said, was a lack of specialists. Many of the superspecialists, including the oncologist, who would visit the hospital a few times a week were Meiteis based in Imphal.

Now, patients who need specialised care and treatment are having to look outside the state, the closest destination being Mizoram capital Aizawl, a journey of over 12 hours on difficult hill roads. According to doctors in the hospital, six patients who had received bullet injuries in the chest during the course of the conflict had been airlifted to Guwahati due to lack of facilities for cardio-thoracic surgery.

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The civil hospital in Kangpokpi, another Kuki-dominated area, has even more limited facilities, but residents have relatively easier access to the nearest capital – Kohima in Nagaland is a three-hour drive away.

But seeking treatment elsewhere isn’t a luxury everyone can afford. Rolianpuii, 54, had been diagnosed with breast cancer this January and had a mastectomy in RIMS Hospital in Imphal in March. She had started her chemotherapy treatment there and had completed two sessions before the violence broke out in May. She had six sessions remaining, but gave up on pursuing other options.

Rolianpuii had to give up cancer treatment midway. (Express Photo: Sukrita Baruah)

“I am just too weak after the sessions; just the thought of travelling up and down from Aizawl is too much for me. It will not be physically possible. And it is not financially possible to stay in Aizawl for the course of the treatment. So I’ve decided to rely on the grace of God,” she said, speaking in her home in Churachandpur town where she lives supported by her two children, a weaver and a school teacher.

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Some others who have sought treatment have done so at great costs. Chinkhoneng, 47, and her husband Jamkothang had moved into a relief camp in a school in the town on May 9, leaving their village at the district’s border with Bishnupur. She too is a breast cancer patient and had four sessions of chemotherapy remaining in Imphal when the violence broke out. Her family decided to take matters into their own hands – they purchased drugs from Aizawl and had the treatment administered in Churachandpur by a nurse who had been trained in Imphal. The expenses for this, said Jamkothang, who reared goats in the village, cost them Rs 67,000 – everything they had.