Death of children and Public Heathcare

The Chief Minister of West Bengal yesterday made a statement during a press conference that 40,000 children die every year in West Bengal .She was addressing the press in view of the recent spate of deaths in B C Roy Children's Hospital. We have a new government and whatever ill happens to the state can still be attributed to the misrule of the past rulers. The fact is that the hospitals are in a severe state for ages. According to a report this hospital has 100 sanctioned posts for doctors but has only 70 on its payroll .There is dearth of everything and the number of patients coming for treatment enormous.

I have seen two child deaths in my own family .In one case the mother lost her mental balance and has never recovered fully from the shock. In the other case it left a deep scar in the family which changed relationships and also altered the dietary pattern of some of the members of the family. Probably in our families the deaths were inevitable definitely not due to lack of medical support. But the families flocking to government hospitals have limited access to advanced medical facilities .They are mostly from the economically weaker sections of the society. Pictures of grieving young parents, heartbroken family members are being splashed in the media for the past couple of days. What a shame.

Doctors like Binayak Sen and Devi Shetty have been working for the betterment of public health facilities in the country. I was listening to a recent interview of Sen on TV where he kept on harping on the state of public health and its impact on our growth and development. 40,000 child deaths in a year is a mind boggling figure that too only in one state of India .It is impossible for the state to do anything on its own .The new government is very serious on improving the present condition of healthcare in the state. I hope it succeeds .in the meanwhile I can only rue the enormous waste of human capital and moan the loss of so many lives which were lost even before they could bloom. My prayers for the bereaved families.