The Hindu : Gujarat carnage: response of health sector draws flak

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 05, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Gujarat carnage: response of health sector draws flak

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM JULY 4. The social activist, Neha Madhiwalla, has said that the role of the health sector in the aftermath of the Gujarat carnage had been generally indifferent in terms of the quality of response to the crisis.

Participating in a seminar organised by the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Ms. Madhiwalla of the Medico Friend Circle (MFC) said though a team of volunteers had found that there was systematic rape, injury and burning of people, there was indifference and neglect among doctors in conducting post-mortems, documentation of the causes of death or injury.

Ms. Madhiwalla was a member of the team appointed by the MFC to investigate the role of health services and professionals in the wake of the Gujarat violence and the health condition of victims and relief camps. The findings have been published in a report titled, `Carnage in Gujarat: A Public Health Crisis'.

She, however, added that though patients did not feel discriminated against by doctors, they were unable to access health care due to the spiral of violence, curfew and inadequate police security.

According to Ms. Madhiwalla, the larger medical fraternity had been guilty of partisanship by their non-participation in mobilising relief materials and in their aloofness in condemning the attack on a medical professional of the minority community.

The relief provided by the Government to the victims was totally inadequate in terms of shelter, water and food. Victims were huddled in open spaces of the `dargahs' and burial grounds and school buildings. The conditions at most of these camps failed to meet basic living standards and posed health risks to refugees. Children were among the worst sufferers with many reduced to malnourishment and psychological shock.

Addressing the seminar, R. Sukanya, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, who worked amongst the victims, pointed out that post-traumatic stress disorder was very common among the refugees. Many victims were found to require long-term counselling and support.

B. Ekbal, Vice-Chancellor of the Kerala University, said the communal canker should not be allowed to infect the medical profession. He emphasised the role of the medical profession in strengthening and promoting an understanding of the ethical, gender and psychological issues of man-made disasters like riots and genocide.

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