ECS Bridge Convergence Project

The eastern districts of Nagaland, bordering Myanmar are the most underdeveloped districts in the state requiring urgent improvement in many areas. Health is a major challenge. They come under the most underdeveloped districts in Nagaland and are listed among the four high priority districts in the state by NHM. The performance of the districts on critical health indicators (ANC, immunization, and institutional delivery) are lowest in the state.

There are many factors that result in poor health service delivery. These include poor health infrastructure, lack of proper equipment at the health centers, lack of awareness, and inability to access health services due to poverty. Added to this is the issue of difficult terrain where people have to walk 5-6 hours for basic services. This is a major reason for discontinued services and a low follow-up rate.

To meet the basic health needs of the people, ECS started running the Longpang PHC on a Public-Private Partnership model between the Dept. of Health and Family Welfare, the Government of Nagaland, and the community. The 20 bedded PHC now provides round-the-clock services and is equipped with all the essential diagnostic facilities such as X-ray, Ultrasound, ECG, CBC, and biochemistry analyzers and a mother-child centre with a fully functional labour room with its independent portable ultrasound machine and essential neonatal resuscitation equipment.

For the past two years, ECS has been mobilizing support to build a bridge that would connect 4 Chang villages and 3 Phom villages to the Primary Health Centre Longpang over the Yijung river so that people can easily access the services without wasting hours traversing the hilly and difficult terrain.

Through a massive convergence effort between various state departments such as the Public Works Department (PWD), MGNREGA, the Border Roads Organization, District Executive Force (DEF) under Nagaland Police, Assam Rifles, corporate donors such as the Hans Foundation, the local MLA and individual donors and friends of ECS have made this a huge success. The convergence effort led to the building of a 10 km link road and a 70 feet bridge. The bridge is now functional.