Modern Day Slavery!

Compulsory rural service for all medical students is soon going to be made into law with effect from the next academic year. I really empathize with all those unfortunate M.B.B.S students who are going to be subjected to this meaningless activity, in the name of "service".

Why meaningless?.. because its plain stupidity to expect a hapless, untrained medico, fresh out of M.B.B.S to be the backbone of healthcare for all the rural folk in this country. In short, we are taking our most inexperienced medical personnel to serve 75% of the Indian population!. That amounts to majority of our population being under-serviced as far as health care goes!. There is a clear discrimination of policy when it comes to tackling urban and rural healthcare. Even the proposed 4 year Master of Rural Health (MRH) is a clear violation of the rights of rural citizens to equitable health care like there urban counterparts.

Most of all, it is the poor medico who is going to be worst affected by these thoughtless rules. Not only is he called to serve in an environment of poor infrastructure, he has to sacrifice ties with his family, work for paltry sums of salary to get his degree.

Wasted Efforts

A newspaper initiative in recent times is going out of its way to promote better ties between India and Pakistan by organizing Indo-Pak cultural meets including literature meets , song, dance and music shows in various cities across the subcontinent. Point is- will this in any way help in promote better ties? No and Never!..it will never take away the seeds of mistrust that are embedded in the minds of the population .. especially not if we have a Pak foreign minister blaring into the microphone, declaring in fanatic spirit his "hate for India" to a crowd of equally fanatic charged Pakistanis.To end our mutual mistrust stint that has been so since the inception of our countries, we need strong political and geographical strategy. The answer is to draw the borders,stop the terrorism and step-down the military offensives. All this campaign for "better cultural ties" is pure eyewash in the absence of a long-lasting solution!

Health Care Reform

Healthcare in India is an industry in want of good management. The onus of providing this precious service has been divided between the private and public institutions. The public institutions are overburdened, under-financed, and notoriously mismanaged. The private institutions cannot claim to be any better. Although they provide a better work culture, they are famous for over pricing and over-investigating.

The poorest of the poor are always the worse affected by these policies. Disregarded by the government hospitals and drained of all savings by the private hospitals they are at the receiving end at all times.

The government in some states, has taken steps to fund the expenses of healthcare for BPL families by providing health packages. Although well intentioned, this is like most government policies is bereft of forethought for possible repercussions. An old adage summarizes this policy- "give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you have feed him for a lifetime". Anything handed out on a platter, for grabs, is always ignored for value. Anything worked for or fought for is valued beyond its true price.

These schemes are also exploited by many- some who use it to obtain free healthcare not appropriate for their income, some who pocket money meant for medicines/services rendered and others who take kickbacks for referring the poor souls to an institution that would ultimately benefit from the ingress of money to its coffers.

No scheme involving large amounts of money can be adequately insulated in India from corruption. Unless we incorporate good work ethos and eliminate poverty- which cannot ever happen overnight- we are slaves to corruption!

How then, can we hope to implement better health care to our masses?

Instead of putting lump sums of money into schemes that concentrate on referral and private/public tertiary care setups, we must build around a three-tier system of healthcare with most of the finances and maximum emphasis on the base of the pyramid- the rural health care centres and district healthcare centers. A large chunk of problems can be tackled by these setups itself- if adequately staffed and equipped. Private setups in the rural areas must be encouraged- with incentives such as tax-free holidays (on the lines of IT companies); these centers must be monitored for quality of care by independent responsible observers. Medical colleges must be ordered to adopt a district level hospital and dispense the required heath care to all subjects in that district. Tele-conferencing between district level physicians and those at the tertiary care center must be offered for counselling regarding difficult to treat cases. Unless this kind of infrastructure is in place, it would be meaningless to deploy fresh medical graduates in the grass root centers by compulsion.

Private and public hospitals in two-tier and three-tier cities must be the next target of the government health policies. Only by reducing the burden (by diverting simple-to-treat case to the district level) on these institutions first, can we begin their reconstruction. Strict monitoring of health services dispensed must be undertaken to ensure quality care.

The final priority of the government must be the public institutions in the metros. These must focus primarily on specialized services and advanced training. Soaps and services must parallel the private healthcare setups to be able to survive the economics of the times.

Divide and Rule

Remember that ol' British policy that we read in our history books-"Divide and rule"- seems like its no longer history!.. In India today, politicians are clamoring for separate states, divisive policies and vote bank politics.

While the cries for "Telangana" in Andhra Pradesh show no signs of reversal, anti-North Indian sentiments are being voiced by Marathi political honchos (no surprise that both these issues are being raised by politicians not currently in power- obviously with the single-minded focus to attract a category of voters).

No party can claim to be "truly universal"- the Left in Bengal bats for the "labor" classes, and of late, has pulled out a religion based reservation policy, which no doubt is to appease the large Muslim refugee population in the state. The Congress has always been the cunning fox in any policy- pulling out all kinds of soaps to pacify its vote base. The BJP is probably the party that has made it preferences most obvious since its inception- always playing the Hindu card to perfection.

India today is at the behest of such hare-brained polices of those who sit in the seats of power. If we have become a player at the world stage in the recent past, it is not "due to" these policies but rather, INSPITE of them!

If only we had better sense prevailing in our political class, we would have reached our current position, decades earlier. Still "aall is not so unwell", as the Gen-Next of Indian Politics is showing signs of sound judgement. One hopes that some sense will soon put an end to all this nonsense!

Flashback Mode

Another year goes by, another end-of-the-year time is upon us, when all media channels and newspapers put up their self made flashbacks about the year gone , and God save us this year!, the "decade" gone by too!. We have the "Top 10" movies/fashion trends/personalities/tech gizmos/ scientific breakthroughs and even the biggest forgettable moments of the year!. Its instant eye-grabbing "news", splashed across the front pages of newspapers or telecast at prime time on news channels. Its memory recall time for the public. When one reads or watches these things- we wonder- "that happened this year!".. "that movie i liked so much, how come its not on the list?".

Well, im going to make my list too, called "top 5 things i loved about this year" Here goes..

1. Getting my first decent paycheck. Making enough money to live out of. Its about time, i'd say!

2. Learning a whole new subject that is a unexplored dungeon for most other doctors. Oncology is a warehouse that never runs out of new machines rolling into the foyer each day!

3. Getting back to working in the wards after a 8 month hiatus- doing justice to my degrees.

4. Living out of a hotel room for 2 whole weeks!.. in amchi Mumbai!..

5. Being the DINK couple (Double Income No Kids!) and enjoying the togetherness with few responsibilities.

Dates Go By..

As the years of our lives fly by, dates of importance to us change as well. For a long time, in fact all my childhood, the day 31st Oct was a very special day for me. It was my "best" friend's birthday. It meant buying an expensive gift for her, spending all day with her, watch movies back-to-back, and perhaps an evening dinner or party. But these days, its like any other day. Its been a few years since i have met my friend. In our life's worries and routines there is hardly any time for ol' friends any more!

I remember one 6th of March, quite some time ago- thats my grandparent's wedding anniversary. I remember when that year, my brother and me, both kids, walked up to a small gift shop in the neighborhood to buy a handy alarm clock for our grandparents. I still have that clock. It needs to be wound up everyday to keep it going. We never celebrated my grandparents anniversary again.

During all my college days, every friend's birthday was a treat indeed. An excuse to party, a reason to hit the theaters or just go out together in our motorcade of bikes and cars to newest restaurant on the block just to chill out. Nowadays, i barely make the effort to scarp them a message online, forget making a call or try meeting them. Its not that i don't care but somehow, the days go by and priorities change.

Every festival was a welcome holiday at home. A time to wear a traditional outfit, decorate the portico with rangoli, help my mother in cooking up the delicacies of the day and in the evening, go out in daddy's car to my grandpa's house to meet the other cousins. Thats a dream now for me. If I am not working on a holiday (which is more often the case than not), I am too exhausted to even cook a regular meal, forget making the traditional feast or decorating the place!

As a kid, summer meant 2 whole months of plain, uncorrupted fun, a gang of 40 friends, a mind boggling array of street games, playing on the roads till the light was too dim to sight the ball or till grandma called you for dinner; now, its just another season, only worse- sweat and grime plus routine!

Curious? .. Phenomenal!

The other day, i saw a phenomenal movie-" The curious Case of Benjamin Button". Its really a movie made with a lot of thought into story and screenplay. Its an out-of-the-box concept movie, set in an era of simplicity. The maker doesn't go into the science behind the hero aging backwards but rather shows it in a light of acceptance and reconciliation with the fact. The news of the "monster baby" makes no media headlines. Everything about the movie is so.. so.. simple. there isn't a better word to describe the times- how one wishes that the present would be that simple!

The story also leaves you with a feeling of some gratitude towards life- a lesson to count one's blessings. How often we take the things in our life for granted!How often we forget our "normalcy" is really a gift in itself!

The lead actor's character in the movie is top class. We get to see more of his matured side, as most of the story is set in his early days. The joy he gets out of "scrapping bird shit"!..his remarkable statements on life itself like "realizing the value of earning money while visiting a brothel!" or "the timed description of the heroine's tryst with fate".. all words worth their weight in gold!

Truely impresssive stuff!