(The Newsroom, a new weekly column by Sonia Singh, NDTV's Editorial Director, focuses on the big news stories, how we covered them and why)Public Health is Hard News. Just how important it is was highlighted this week when the state of our hospitals, our primary health centres, shortage of doctors and nurses came into sharp focus with what seemed at first glance to be the entirely avoidable deaths of children.
The disease may be dengue but what killed these children (the youngest was just 4 ) is the all too familiar lethal cocktail of negligence, indifference and the don't die on my patch syndrome, familiar to those who have ever tried to get an accident victim treated in Delhi and watched cops squabble over jurisdiction.
Yet, the only time Health is a Headline is when there is an immediate crisis, a death of one child in Delhi, Mumbai or any of our cities. This in a way completely misses the real story. The story of thousands who die in India of tuberculosis every day. The story of an 82% shortage of surgeons and physicians in rural India, which is why patients from across India sleep on streets outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi. The story that around 80% of Indian hospitals today are privately owned, run as institutions of profit. The story of cuts in India's health budget at a time when the Prime Minister (like the UPA before him), has promised "universal health coverage for all". With these cuts, India's budget for health is at just 1% of GDP, compared to China's 3% and the U.S.A's 8%.
How then will we fund much-needed research for vaccines for Indian diseases like dengue and others asked Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the head of the Indian Council of Medical Research this week: "These are not diseases which the western countries will invest money in. We react after the problem appears because doing preventive healthcare is not a very sexy thing."
So, why is health just not a priority in India for the government, voters, media till disaster strikes? Is it because issues like health and education don't win and lose elections in India.....yet?
For instance, the link between sanitation and health has been reiterated countless times, with diseases like swine flu, typhoid, Japanese encephalitis all directly attributable to contaminated surroundings. They may be called India's Smart Cities or Silicon Valley but Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi all face annual outbreaks of dengue, swine flu, chikungunya which fell CEO and slum dweller alike. Yet these are never election themes for a Chief Minister during a campaign; it is a promise of free Wifi that can give you an edge over your nearest rival. Year after year, municipal corporators who have completely failed in their civic duties are re-elected, accountability for public sanitation and health is never asked for or given.
I asked this question to Kiran Bedi, who was pilloried for saying her main focus would be to clean up a Dirty Delhi when she was campaigning as BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate. Her own party workers had attacked her for her gaffe in saying the then Health Minister Harsh Vardhan's constituency was filthy and that would be her top priority if elected. 'Her answer: "Voters have given up".
I don't entirely buy that, though. Public opinion we've seen has attained critical mass in the last few years with government decisions in some cases being reversed based on Twitter trends. Why can't we mobilise public opinion for this? #SaveCitiesSaveLives is a great hashtag suggested by a colleague - can it trend not for a day, a week but for the months needed to actually fix underlying problems regarding sanitation and health care facilities? Most importantly, the media focus on public health can't be restricted to Delhi and Mumbai. Whether it's TB or childhood diarrhea, people are dying around India for no good reason. NDTV is running a series this month on hospitals around India which takes a hard look at what it means to fall ill in areas outside our cities. The reality is grim.
Despite this, I'm optimistic for several reasons. India's health system has shown it can work and work incredibly well. The major success in eradicating Polio is a global milestone. Recently, we won the battle against childhood tetanus. These are breakthroughs that need to be celebrated by all of us. More importantly, these need to be issues that can decide political futures.
India Can Fix This. The point is do Indians care enough?