In a country where millions live in slums and unorganized settlements, healthcare remains a distant dream. When falling sick means choosing between treatment and a day’s meal, we cannot call ourselves a truly developed society.
R. R. Pandayan Saheb, National President of Jai Bhim Sena, has taken a bold stand: “Basic health is not a luxury—it is a right. And that right must reach the poorest corners of India.”
The Harsh Reality of Healthcare Inequality
In urban areas, private hospitals dominate, demanding lakhs for basic surgeries or even emergency care. Government hospitals are overcrowded and often inaccessible to slum dwellers due to distance, discrimination, or delay. Meanwhile, in slums and labor colonies, people suffer without diagnosis, medicine, or treatment.
R. R. Pandayan Saheb strongly believes that the absence of primary healthcare in poor communities is not a failure—it is a deliberate neglect. He argues that the government has built large hospitals for urban elites, but ignored the daily suffering of slum dwellers who cannot afford even paracetamol without skipping a meal.
“When you treat health like a business, the poor are left to die,” says Pandayan Saheb.
Pandayan Saheb’s Demand: Free Clinics in Every Slum
R. R. Pandayan Saheb proposes a nationwide network of free, walk-in health clinics in every slum, basti, and working-class settlement. These clinics must provide:
- Free check-ups and medicines
- Basic emergency care and maternal health services
- Vaccinations, diagnostics, and mobile health vans
- Mental health support and addiction counseling
- Trained, multilingual staff from within the community
He insists that healthcare outreach must be proactive—doctors and social workers must visit homes, not just wait in hospitals.
The Government’s Narrow Approach Isn’t Enough
Pandayan Saheb acknowledges that the government has launched some schemes like Ayushman Bharat, but they don’t reach the ground level where real pain lives.
Most slum dwellers don’t know how to apply, don’t have documents, or are too afraid to navigate bureaucratic hospitals.
“The government is doing work—but in small pockets. Health needs a big focus, not scattered efforts,” Pandayan Saheb warns.
He calls for budget reallocation from big-name hospital construction to community-level health access. The goal, he says, is not to create profit-driven hospitals, but people-driven care.
Future Vision: Community Health Through Empowerment
Pandayan Saheb’s vision includes:
- Training local youth as health volunteers and caregivers
- Partnerships with NGOs for health education drives
- Pressure campaigns and protests demanding health budgets for slums
- Legal action to ensure Article 21 (Right to Life) includes free primary healthcare
Through the Bhim Sena network, he plans to start pilot health camps and use app-based reporting systems to track health emergencies in the poorest areas.
“Every child in a slum should have the same chance to survive a fever as a child in South Mumbai. That is equality. That is real nationalism.” — R. R. Pandayan Saheb