Five-star hospitals

THE recent death of a child after 15 days of intensive care at a private hospital in Gurugram is unfortunate. The cost of treatment — more than Rs 1 lakh per day. Reacting to news stories in media, Union Health Minister JP Nadda has sought a report from the Khattar government, which promptly formed a three-member team to look into the matter. Constitution of a committee is a standard operating procedure to buy time and diffuse public anger. The matter, which has shaken up the collective conscience of the region, will eventually die its natural death and the five-star hospital business will continue its journey to prosperity.

The sad demise of the child has, however, once again reminded us of our collective failure to provide affordable and quality health to all our citizens. Even salaried taxpayers, like the father of the ailing child, are forced to visit private hospitals because government hospitals are ill-equipped, overcrowded and badly administered. Instead of raising the standard of public hospitals on a par with their private counterparts, the government is prioritising hugely expensive projects like the bullet train. Similar distortions prevail in other crucial sectors, such as education. The phenomenal rise of the private sector in providing health and education is the result of the government’s withdrawal from areas of its primary responsibility. The governmental failure has resulted in the education and hospital conglomerates ruling the roost. The distorted priorities have encouraged massive enrichments at the expense of hapless citizens. 

The argument is that “it is not the government’s business to run a business”. Indeed, the government must shun all profit motives. But then, what about its responsibilities? A civilised society must be able to provide its citizens access to quality education and affordable healthcare. This is poor governance and poor politics. A government that seeks to meddle in even the most intimate of choices a citizen makes cannot walk away from its obligations to provide the same citizen his basic needs — healthcare, education, drinking water and a safe and harmonious social order. Five-star hospitals only advertise the inequalities and divisions in society.