Shimla: Working against privatization of healthcare, the Communist Party of India (Marxists) is holding week long protests before medical institutions to create awareness.
Tikender Panwar, member secretary CPI(M) the sit in protest being carried out at primary health centers, district hospitals and Indira Gandhi Medical College and hospital would be scaled up to mass contact program, highlighting the fallout because of the paradigm shift in health carse services.
The UPA government had committed to provide medicines at bearable costs but the market was awash with drugs that a common could not afford, says Panwar. The union government had failed to control prices of essential drugs, he added.
The party holds that the BJP state government was intent upon carrying out commericalisation of healthcare on a large scale under the garb of private public partnerships.
“Rogi Kalyan Samitis are now being formed in every institution and they are set up only to collect charges from the patients for whatever investigations are handed out to them,” he said. “These samitis need to be scrapped,” demanded Panwar.
By offering to hand over government hospitals to the private sector in order to open up medical colleges, the BJP government has virtually turned health services into an industry.
Handing out the medical institution project of Vivekanand Memorial Trust (VRMT) at Palamapur to a Jaypee charity has been termed as betrayal of public trust by the communist party.
The party has sought increased expenditure on public health, price reduction of essential drugs, stop contractual appointment of medical staff, stall handing over government hospitals to private institutions and scrap handing over VRMT to another charity.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
Health is one of the most important issues, I would like to mention that the govt proposal to appoint panchayat swasthya sahayak under the control of panchayats is tottaly irrelevant to the needs of the department and the National Health Programmes undertaken by it. there is no such thing as a pancayat swasthya sahayak, there are Multipurpose Health Workers, Health Supervisors, AMO’s, there were 2210 Male MPW’s and 2210 Female MPW”s in 1980 when the population of the State was 5 million and Himachal Pradesh was a topper in Health care till 2002, now the population of the State is 7.5 million and the Health Workers Male are 1200 and Health workers Female are 11400, There were 127 Health Supervisors Male in Municipal Corporation & Councils to look after Sanitation & other public health problems and Himachal was one of the cleanest states in North India, even the Capital Shimla does not have Male Health Supervisors and shimla city from a population 0f 70 thousand has gone up to 3 lakh, and there are nobody to look after the cleanliness, sanitation of Hotels, Dhabas, Resaurants, grocery shops anywhere in the state and markets have become filthy dustbins scattered all aruond, same is the case of residential colonies, worke is supervised by untrained sanitary supervisors and duffadars and there is constant threat of waterborne diseases in all the major and minor towns kasbas as well as panchayats all over the state which is deplorabel, no govt is concerned about environmental cleanliness a very sad state of affairs indeed