Children are God’s gifts for parents. The moment a child comes into this world, for parents, he or she becomes the epicentre of their lives. From the best baby care products to the best clothes, schools and facilities, parents leave no stone unturned in their personal capacity to ensure that their child is as comfortable as possible.
But there are times when things are no longer in their hands. For example, when the apple of someone’s eye falls sick, everything rests in the hands of the doctor. Parents can only run to the hospital, keep the money ready and pray. The rest, it’s all in the hands of the people who have the power to make a choice.
When seven-year-old Avinash fell sick, his parents rushed him to a hospital. They were referred to a ‘better’ one. So, they went to a ‘better’ one, but they were sent away. Five such instances and the parents realised that their child was dead. So, then, when the epicentre was gone, could anything else remain? They jumped off a building and killed themselves too.
There was a huge furore. Social media was abuzz, TV channels were busy. Avinash had become a symbol of the booming, but heartless medical industry. We thought the industry had learnt its lesson. Sadly, we were wrong. In South Delhi, six-year-old Aman too suffered the same fate. Safdarjung Hospital claimed that there was no need to admit him when his parents first took him there.
However, when his condition worsened, his parents rushed him to a local hospital. When the care wasn’t sufficient, they went back to Safdarjung, where the busy doctors didn’t have the time. In all of this chaos, the little one breathed his last.
This isn’t the first time the callousness of the medical industry is coming to the fore. I remember when there was swine flu all around and my husband had a slight cold, we didn’t want to take chances. When we went to a doctor to get the test done, they said a simple blood test would cost us Rs 5,000. Despite my husband and I earning decently well, we knew we didn’t want to go for it.
We dismissed it as a harmless cold and thankfully, so was it. However, imagine the condition of the haves not, who can’t even think of that amount of money for a test. Such cases go undetected, possible leading to death. Who is responsible then?
While medical care and medicines should be made affordable, medical care must be made accessible and accountable first. Else, people’s faith in the healing power of doctors will vanish without a trace and that wouldn’t be a great thing.