Dear Friends,
Can you govern India from outside Delhi?
In its 73 Years existence as an independent nation, the country has not given adequate
importance to the health of citizens. Healthcare has never been a priority for the
state.
More than a million children, less than five years of age, succumb to disease
like pneumonia and diarrhea every year. The Country's infant mortality rate is worse
than that of conflict zones like Iraq and Syria.
In 2015-16 more mothers died in India
during childbirth than in the rest of the subcontinent- Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal
did better than us in this respect. What does freedom mean for a woman for whom giving
birth to a child is a life threatening proposition?
Our commitment to the Health components of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of
the United Nation (UN) appears shaky. By 2030, the country will have to achieve the
highest possible level of good health and well-being for its citizens. This requires
everyone in the country to have access to quality healthcare services- no one should
face financial hardship because of health reasons. This appears a near impossibility
given the current state- of- affairs. A healthcare system in ruins- made stark by the
COVID-19 pandemic- does not provide any semblance of hope for achieving the SDG goals.
Our annual expenditure on medical facilities says something about our commitment
healthcare- or the lack of it. State spending on healthcare is little more than one
percent of the country's GDP. This is way less than some of the world's poorest
nations- Ethiopia spends 4.9 percent of its GDP on healthcare, Sudan spends more
than 8 percent.
For the first time in our 73 years old history as an independent nation, we are sharing
at a crisis that threatens our health and also imperils our existence as free citizens.
The pandemic has made us realize what it means to neglect the health of our people. The
virus has tested our capacity to bear the pain that the country's healthcare system has
become in all these years. It has exposed the vulner-ability of our healthcare models as
well as the limitation of the political ideologies in the country.
Big Question is were we ready to cope sustainable health care before and after
disaster, DMA/IMS has to play big role which they could not play because of
political, administrative & technical in both organization Remote running from
outside Delhi possible. If surely only general stays here. I suggest reader to renew
and modify in interest of DMA/IMA.
Dr. Ajay Gambhir
Hon. State Secretary
M: 9811557085
