It will be a matter of shame for any country if a hundred infants were to die in a month at a single public hospital for want of working medical equipment and a pathetic attitude of the doctors and administrators. But not here in India.
After the death of 100 infants in a government hospital in Kota, Rajasthan, our politicians are busy blaming each other, instead of addressing the woeful lack of adequate medical-care in our thinly spread and poorly funded public health system.
After the Kota human tragedy came to light, leaders of various parties were busy in name-calling one another, with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot casually dismissing it as an everyday occurrence.
BJP leaders have criticised Rahul Gandhi for not visiting the bereaved families, while Mayawati has ticked off Priyanka Gandhi for wasting time in UP while ignoring the apathy of the Congress Government in Rajasthan which led to the Kota deaths.
Of course, deaths in such large numbers in public hospitals hit the headlines periodically without jolting the conscience of the policy-makers to allocate sufficient funds for running public hospitals.
It seems the Kota hospital either did not have the necessary medical equipments required to handle child-birth, or, if it did, most of it was not in a working condition.
Tragically, the death of 100 infants will be forgotten soon. And we will be confronted with another such horrendous news at some other public hospital in the near future. Nothing changes, really. Our politicians have become cynical.
