Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 30
Governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya on Monday said that there has been a sort of “awakening” among those living outside the northeast region to venture out from their homes and engage in social/community services in the region.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the “Regional conference on national health priorities” here today in Dimapur, Acharya said that the good thing about these ventures is that they are in the form of services, and not donations. The conference has been organized by North East Council (NEC) and the state department of Health, under the sponsorship of Environmental Medical Association of India (EMA). As a case in point, the Governor cited the recent visit of a team of doctors from Mumbai to Nagaland, who he said, had not only conducted medical camps here in Nagaland but also send medical equipments after their return to Mumbai.
He also asserted that the rest of the country cannot afford to ignore the northeast region, especially in the face of rising “insurgency” problems here. “The integrity of the country is at stake in the northeast,” he told the audience.
Acharya also lamented that the educated section of the people have turned self-centered instead of the opposite. “We are working only for ourselves, not for the society.”
Guest of honor, and Secretary of NEC, Ram Muivah in his address referred to the newspaper reports on the pathetic state of public healthcare system in the state. He said that, of all the neglects highlighted, the most jarring was the case of absentee doctors in remote areas.
Muivah however added that the doctors are not helped at all by the complete absence of accommodations, poor power and water supplies and other forms of connectivity.
On a different note, he also shared that “how we treat women is the measure of our civilization.” Muivah recalled how, in the Naga villages, the whole populace works to ensure that the widows and the orphans do not go hungry and homeless. “We have that wonderful tradition,” he said.
A keynote address on “Health care in India at the crossroad” was delivered by emeritus Professor Dr KC Mohanty.
