This refers to your cover story AES: Hidden Epidemic (July 8). The picture of Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur is worth a thousand words. It has a vocabulary neglect and colossal deprivation that words may be inadequate to convey. At 1.4 per cent of the GDP, our healthcare spend is ridiculously low. Moreover, health is not about hospitals alone. It is also about a wholesome package of clean air, drinking water, sanitation and nutrition. We have to figure out that we are sitting on a crisis and our services are functioning beyond full capacity. Until we make systemic and imaginative changes, a Muzaffarpur is waiting to happen every other day. Augmenting healthcare with paramedical staff for a wider reach in terms of availability of personnel and health education could take the pressure off the big hospitals. A well-equipped primary healthcare system can help us focus on public health better than hospital-centric solutions. The idea is to minimise the need to go to a hospital and to get the most out of it in case one has to.
Sangeeta Kampani, Delhi
This hidden epidemic is not so hidden, after all, as about 200 children have died at the altar of carelessness and ignorance in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, is symptomatic of a larger disease that has engulfed India for decades—the scant regard of successive governments for public health and education. India spends just a little over one per cent of its GDP on public health, far below most developed and less developed countries. This forces people into the clutches of the exorbitant private healthcare system, which drains them of their hard-earned income. In fact, a recent report says that Indians spend 67.78 per cent of their health expenses from their own pocket, against a global average of 18.2 per cent. The Narendra Modi government talks big, selling the dream of Ayushman Bharat, but a cursory look at the budgetary allocation—Rs 52,800 crore for health in 2018-19, merely 5 per cent higher than the revised estimate of Rs 50,079.6 crore for 2017-18, and 2.1 per cent of the Union Budget, lowered from the 2.4 per cent in 2017-18—shows it is all just so much hot air. The situation is even more pathetic at the state level as in Bihar, the centre of this epidemic, where the public expenditure on health is just Rs 348 per person annually, while the national average is Rs 748. Hence, if the health policy is not turned upside down, the poor, deprived and disenfranchised people will keep being dumped at third-rate public hospitals like animals and their kids will keep on dying year after year without shocking anyone.
Rakesh Agrawal, Dehradun
Strange and hitherto unheard of infectious diseases have been holding India and her medical community to ransom of late. It was the Nipah viral infection that had Kerala by the scruff in May 2018. Recently, it was Muzaffarpur’s turn to dance to the death tune of a supposedly highly infectious encephalitic entity. Probably, Muzaffarpur can take a leaf out of Kerala’s success story in getting the better of Nipah infection, about which the latter had the slightest inkling at the outset.
George Jacob, Kochi
Poverty, malnutrition, unhygienic living conditions, unavailability of quality treatment and the apathy of the government are the main causes of the deaths in Bihar. A solution is not very difficult if the government is willing to devote resources for it. But the recurrence of tragedies of such magnitude never disturbs the ruling dispensation. That things were no better in Bihar before Nitish Kumar took over is well-known, yet there is no denying that the conditions have gone from bad to worse. Medical colleges and hospitals are also ill-equipped to deal with the outbreak of such epidemics. Routine compensation will not bring back the children.
K.S. Jayatheertha, Bangalore
Bureaucracy can’t be blamed for our problems when politicians always pick their favourites.
Indira Krishnakumar, Malappuram (Kerala)
This refers to The Hen Faked Gold (July 8), Karnataka’s version of Bengal’s Saradha scam. I understand that Mohammad Mansoor Khan, promoter of IMA Group of Companies, used his political clout to rope in local moulvis to issue fatwas in favour of investing in IMA. In turn, they got funds for their madrasas. Actually the scam was an open secret, but fearing the nexus and the backlash from Muslims during elections, nobody tried to blow the lid. What is surprising is that after the infamous Ambidant fraud, people could again fall for this multi-crore IMA ponzi scheme. No wonder, as American showman P.T. Barnum who employed sensational forms of presentation like the three-ring circus is reported to have said “there’s a sucker born every minute”, and con artists, scamsters, charlatans, hustlers, snake oil salesmen, swindlers prosper.
H.N. Ramakrishna, Bangalore
This refers to your story on whether Sonia Gandhi can “salvage the Congress’s sinking ship” as “Rahul sulks and shies away” (Mum’s the Word, Again, July 8). The Gandhis must note that the stepping down of Rahul will not solve the problem as their clan continues to be the glue that keeps the Congress from falling apart. In fact, such a move will further disintegrate the grand old party because there will be no unanimous support for any other leader. This makes it quite unfortunate that neither Rahul nor his sister Priyanka have inspired much confidence so far, leaving the burden once again to their mother Sonia, who has held the Congress together for the past three decades. Having taken the back seat for a few years due to her illness, she let her son lead from the front, but now such is the shambles the party is in that there is no certainty it will stick together even if she returns to its helm. What ails the Congress is its growing distance from the ground reality that has shifted majorly in the past decade or so. Its regional and local leaders no longer enjoy a fine feel of the pulse of the masses across the country. This is one of the inevitable outcomes of the high command’s failure to trust them with carrying out their responsibilities independently, which has been a bane of the Congress. Revival will be long and painful, demanding a lot of patience and pragmatism, and failure will not just be the Congress’s as a democratic country needs a vibrant Opposition in Parliament.
Bal Govind, Noida
This refers to your cover story Can Didi Survive Modi (July 1). Going by the unstoppable march of the BJP and the inroads made deep into West Bengal, it appears that it is not going to be a cakewalk for incumbent Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in the next assembly elections in 2021. The TMC won 211 of 287 assembly seats in 2016. The BJP has fixed the target of 250 for 2021, and it looks likely to touch that figure. Mamata has committed mistakes of unprecedented Muslim appeasement that, unfortunately, will not change the fate of Muslims in the ghettoes. She also promoted her relatives, ignored corruption and scams, let loose foot soldiers to create anarchy, and suppress the free press. If Mamata can rely on ‘Jai Bangla’, the BJP has ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and Modi’s ‘Sonar Bangla’ vision. Mamata seems to be running helter-shelter, not knowing how to stall the BJP’s progress. The road ahead is not smooth as before.
M.Y. Shariff, Chennai
It is shocking and shameful that Mamata Banerjee is defending the corrupt in the party. Isn’t it that several TMC leaders have been caught taking bribe from widows for their monthly pension? Sadly, rampant corruption in the party and state has gone unchecked. Mamata asking police to take action against the corrupt, instead of taking the lead by dismissing them from the party, appears fishy as well. The exposure of corruption in the party is just the tip of the iceberg. It is high time Mamata cleaned up the mess and saved the party.
K.R. Srinivasan, Secunderabad
Apropos the snippet ‘Don’t Blink’ in the Glitterati column of the June 17 issue of Outlook, it is advisable to stay away from dashing divas. But your delicious descriptions of these ultra-modern hotties have kept me hooked to the magazine for years.
Jyotiranjan Biswal, Durgapur
This refers to Babus who run India (July 3). I am an ordinary citizen who unfortunately disagrees with most of leaders and babus. After reading and seeing differ ent media, citizens like me rue the disheartening aspects of our polity, economy and society. I am compelled to say humbly that the correct expression should have been “Babus, including leaders, who ruin India”. All leaders, including babus, think that they are the ones responsible for uplifting the country, but their actions are leading to India’s downfall.
G.L. Karkal, Pune
This refers to The Mystery of Ratna Bhandar (July 8). I wonder what is so newsworthy in this story. Is this not common in other temples as well as churches and mosques? The only difference is that such stories are not divulged to the public. Surprisingly, the article ends with the statement that some people believe only a CBI enquiry would bring out the truth. Really? Do they believe in such an outcome? In my humble opinion, when people are solely guided by faith, they will not allow any government or institution to reveal the truth to the public. There will no proper investigation into this case; only a make-believe one.
G.L. Karkal, Pune
