Why children’s deaths in hospitals are common in India?
Monday - January 13, 2020 12:57 pm ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
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WTN- The continual deaths hundreds of children in government hospitals in Kota (Rajasthan) and then in Gujarat have again highlighted the poor condition of our public healthcare system.
Earlier too we had such deaths in government hospitals in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Irrespective of governments and party lines, this is a uniform truth across the country— more so in the northern states where shabby healthcare and education is a traditional bane.
It is unfortunate that over the years, with so many advancements in technology and communication, we are still not able to save precious lives. In no developed society of the world children’s deaths are taken so casually and nowhere such mass fatalities in a brief period of time happens in the modern world unless stuck by some grave pestilence or holocaust. This is a shame for the whole country that we cannot save our children from dangers, which ironically can very easily be warded off with some little care and planning. The probe team which visited the Kota hospital was shocked to find pigs roaming inside, and its window panes broken, letting chilly winds in — a few of the many lapses they noted. Such unsafe environs are bound to pose serious threat to the life of the new born.
It is surprising how and why the administration was oblivious of these basic deficiencies and why it didn’t do the needful in time? It is not the case of just Rajasthan and Gujarat. The situation won’t be much different in UP, MP, Bihar and Bengal as well and it points towards a systemic failure that spawns out of years of unaccountability and corruption that has set up a national culture of negligence and dereliction.
Funds are gobbled up and the corrupt know nothing would happen to them. This profanity is widespread in the sarkari setup and this only promotes and strengthens the impunity of the babus who are in charge of the show. By and by the carelessness and audacity accumulates and ends up in deaths and catastrophes. But then, who cares? Every time it is the same story – something would happen somewhere and the news channels will bite into it with all their might, initiating fervent debates that lead nowhere, a probe panel will then be set up, no one would know when it gives its report and if the government is at all doing anything on the report, even as in most cases it is a given that the government won’t do much because no one will disturb the status quo that could tamper with the clout of the babus and heft of the ministers.
After a short time, everything would be forgotten and the files shelved or even lost to rodents or fire. The fate of people will still be decided by serendipity. In a country where political leaders decide postings of officials, in a country where money ensures appointments, in a country where merit is usurped by access and contacts, in a country where the police work as per the whims of their political masters, in a country where lakhs of cases are pending for decades in the law courts, we can never be sure how and when we can have a system of accountability and responsible work culture in our society.
Unless there is discipline and honesty in work, unless there is ethical and moral responsibility in people, unless there is due diligence and involvement of our governments in creating a strong and efficient public service delivery system, we can’t have a bright future for our country and development will remain an ever-elusive chimera. - Window To News
