The Hindu Business Line : Unhealthy silence

THE spate of sops for every section of the voting public by the Government only confirms the famous quote of H. L. Mencken that "every election is a bout of advance auction of stolen goods."

However, people, as they move up the social and economic ladder, are not easily impressed by the handouts. Many of them are but a drop in the ocean. Others are pie in the sky, the promised benefits to occur in some distant future.

Sadly, however, services for citizens, which are crying for most attention, continue to be neglected. The most glaring failure is the all-round silence of political parties in the area of public sector healthcare.

Is it too much to expect equal access to modern medicine and technology for all in `India Shining' days?

It was reported recently that the trucker's district of Namakkal is sitting on a powder keg because of inadequate disease management and non-availability of drugs.

This may only be the tip of the iceberg, for it may not take long for it to happen — a public health disaster on a colossal scale.

It appears that the Government has all but abandoned the public health system even as five-star multi-specialty hospitals and scan centres are mushrooming all over in the private sector.

Yet, it is astonishing that in our country there is no public debate, least of all by political parties, on the poor state of General Hospitals and on drug prices and drug availability.

Contrast this with the UK, where the public sector National Health System is under intense media scrutiny all the time for failures to be made public.

Government spending on healthcare has nosedived in recent years, with the Central allocation being a measly 1.3 per cent while the States' budgets 5 per cent.

The worsening public health system is exacerbated by spiralling price of drugs and lack of access to essential drugs. A WHO report says that a meagre 0.49 per cent of our population has access while even in Pakistan it is over 50 per cent.

TB, AIDS, malaria and waterborne diseases, among others, are causing untold suffering in terms of human development, lost productivity and degradation of quality of life.

Yet no political party cares to talk about it. Of course all of them will have pious hopes about `Health for all' written in their printed manifestos.

Again, ironically, the parties seem to woo most who do not vote and neglect the avid balloters.

The proportion of aged among voters who exercise their franchise braving the weather can be easily seen from the video clippings of news feeds of the previous general elections. Yet, precious little is done for them by way of infrastructure.

For instance, is it possible for an old person to travel alone by bus or train with the hazards of climbing stairs and unimaginatively placed footboards?

The fastest growing segment of our population comprises those above 60 and expecting to live at least for another 10-12 years.

Even now, if people above 50 are counted there are 12 crore and by themselves constitute a viable vote bank.

In terms of absolute numbers this section is big (7.08 per cent now), and will cross the 10-per-cent mark (18 crore) in another 15 years.

In Kerala, for instance, the old constitute nearly 9 per cent of its population. Yet there is no great political movement on this issue, this despite many of our leaders themselves being septuagenarians.

When will our political parties jettison debates on ancient history, religion, caste, language, and so on, and concentrate on issues of the living, rich or poor, young or old.