We often come across the news of unethical and blackmailing practices being indulged into by the private hospitals in the country and particularly in New Delhi and other major cities.
Reporting apart, even the issue was realistically depicted a Akshay Kumar starred movie that ripped apart the facade of these Private and Commercial ventures.
Following in the series of such unfortunate incidents, the recent death of a child after 15 days of intensive care at a private hospital in Gurugram and what happened later has bowed head in shame. The cost of treatment — more than Rs 1 lakh per day.
About two months back, a noted Chartered Accountant from Jammu was hurriedly operated upon after wrong diagnosis at another big named hospital. Without accepting their fault, the hospital held back the body of the deceased for few thousands of rupees while having charged whopping lacs of rupees.
Reacting to news stories in media, Union Health Minister J P Nadda has sought a report from the Haryana government, which promptly formed a three-member team to look into the matter. Constitution of a committee is a standard operating procedure to buy time and defuse public anger.
The matter, which has shaken up the collective conscience of the nation, will eventually die its natural death and the five-star hospital business will continue its journey to prosperity.
The sad demise of the child has, however, once again reminded us of our collective failure to provide affordable and quality health to all our citizens. Even salaried taxpayers, like the father of the ailing child, are forced to visit private hospitals because government hospitals are ill-equipped, overcrowded and badly administered.
Instead of raising the standard of public hospitals on a par with their private counterparts, the government is prioritising hugely expensive projects which can afford to wait.
Similar distortions prevail in other crucial sectors, such as education. The phenomenal rise of the private sector in providing health and education is the result of the government's withdrawal from areas of its primary responsibility. The governmental failure has resulted in the education and hospital conglomerates ruling the roost.
The distorted priorities have encouraged massive enrichments at the expense of hapless citizens.
The argument is that ‘it is not the government's business to run a business'. Indeed, the government must shun all profit motives.
But then, what about its responsibilities? A civilised society must be able to provide its citizens access to quality education and affordable healthcare. This is poor governance and poor politics. A government that seeks to meddle in even the most intimate of choices a citizen makes cannot walk away from its obligations to provide the same citizen his/her basic needs — healthcare, education, drinking water and a safe and harmonious social order. Five-star hospitals only advertise the inequalities and divisions in society.
