KATHUA: In the present pandemic of Covid-19, communities around the world are working to update masses about the latest of coronavirus, how it spreads and how to protect themselves from it.
However Mass Media viz Radio, Television and now Internet on Mobile are fast spreading tools to disseminate the information from doctors and experts, but a good chunk of people have either no access to these tools or have no time in their daily chores especially those living in isolated Rural India because of one reason or another.
In Jammu & Kashmir a large portion of its population lives in hilly areas. Among them the people living in typical scattered settlements have no usual knack of updating themselves of what is going on in the outside world. The popular mediums of information have less penetration in these scattered settlements as compared to close-in rural habitations. The only medium effective to educate people about something as grave as Covid-19 is personal Counselling, and the role of Health Educator of Health Department becomes crucial and deciding as they have to do it at larger scale in minimum possible time.
Bharat Bhushan, a 58 year old Health Educator posted at trauma Hospital Mahanpur is working relentlessly from March 5 2021 to educate people about Covid-19, debunk the myths and motivate them about the benefits of Covid vaccination. The zone given to the Bharat Bhushan largely comprises hilly scattered habitations and to cover it he treks hills on a daily basis.
Every single day my team meets people of different age groups and backgrounds, every individual responds differently. When district administration decided to start a combing campaign to identify those who have some Covid symptoms but are hesitant to undergo Covid testing, Bharat Bhushan keeps motivating people to undergo tests besides suggesting families to follow protocols and precautions to stop the spread.
While sharing his experience of 4 months in the vaccination team, Bharat Bhushan said “Vaccination is a big challenge in the areas having least exposure to the outside world.”
“The tough terrains apart, the People run away as soon as they see us coming. They run out from back doors of homes or tell their children to make excuses and say that nobody is at home,” he said and added “Villagers feel the vaccine has side-effects and can even result in death”.
Sharing more about the kind of public response they receive, he said “Some villagers also believe that they simply do not need vaccination as they don’t think that Corona is life threatening”. All of this is making it harder for our team to convince people initially.
Bharat Bhushan said, “I have less than one year of service left and I am using all my experience into play to remove the hesitancy of the villagers and get them vaccinated”.
BMO Basohli Dr Anuradha Kerni said “ Bharat Bhushan services have been exceptional in terms of motivating people for vaccination and educating them that it is the only tool to be safe from Covid-19.” She said “Basohli has successfully achieved the 100% inoculation target in 45+ age category and I would say he is among the top contributors in terms of motivating people”. “Bharat Bhushan is an inspiration for all of us and I hope his contribution will motivate many people and ultimately help us in a big way to achieve our 18+ vaccination target in record time.”