Profiteering from Human Suffering

The dream of building a healthy and educated nation is becoming more elusive as crores of Indians are still devoid of quality healthcare as well as education, and in the process giving rise to inequality. It’s a pity that both these important sectors are now being used for profit-making rather than catering to the needs of numerous Indians who are suffering from illiteracy and diseases like malnutrition. The present trend indicates that these two sectors will go beyond the reach of common Indian citizens sooner rather than later if proper steps are not taken at once to prevent the situation from worsening further. As a matter of fact, some prominent leaders have already raised this issue and suggested banning the entry of unscrupulous businessmen who treat these two sectors as a tool for money-making only. Unanimously, without mincing any words, the leaders have termed the profit-driven approach at the expense of these two important pillars of development as scandalous.

This is why the prevailing situation needs urgent attention from both the Centre and the state governments, as with a couple of stern steps they can easily turn both education and health from being profit-making ventures to a mission. For instance, the government can make it mandatory for all the educational and health institutions to admit students/patients on merit only. It has been found that many meritorious students do not dare to seek admission to private schools due to financial constraints. This practice should be reversed at once to ensure a level playing field in the case of admissions in both government and private schools. Otherwise, it seems that the government schools are for the marginal sections, while private schools are for the upper strata of society. A country which vows equality can never allow such an impression to gain ground, as this is against the very essence of our national foundation. Similarly, all the hospitals in the country should have uniform rates for necessary medical treatment and examinations. Like GST ensuring a uniform price of goods and services all over the country, the government should make a law to make all medical facilities available at a uniform rate. At the same time, refusal to treat any serious patient due to his/her economic background should be treated as a criminal offence.

To compel the educational institutions and hospitals to adhere to these conditions strictly, the government should redo the terms and conditions agreed upon with the private parties while granting permission to commence their operations, as the provision of keeping 15 per cent seats/beds reserved for economically weaker sections has failed to deliver the goods. Hospitals and educational institutions have found some novel ways to evade legal sanctions for violating this particular clause. For example, one private school in Delhi runs a parallel school with ad-hoc teachers and at different timings for students admitted under the said clause. Likewise, private hospitals will readily cite unavailability of beds to deny a poor man quality medical facilities. Such discriminatory practices should be prevented at any cost with a view to fulfilling the constitutional pledge.