Jana Vignana Vedika leaders strongly condemned the Mruthyunjaya homam done at the Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad on Monday, praying God to save the lives of children and mothers and described the act as a great insult to the medical profession.
At a joint press conference here on Wednesday, the JVV leaders Ch. Rajeswar and P. Ram Mohan Rao found fault with the ‘homam’ performed at the Gynaecology department by doctors Anupama and Prameela with the permission of the hospital superintendent Shravankumar, saying that it was against modern science, which was based on scientific reason.
If diseases could be cured with ‘homams’ and ‘yagams’, then what was the need of hospitals, doctors and medical colleges? They felt that in no country illness was treated with these rituals. In advanced countries where there were no ‘yagams’ and ‘homams’, child mortality rate was just five for 1,000 while in India they were 30 for 1,000, they added. Only suitable treatment and medicines could help the patients to recover, not the unscientific practices like ‘homams’ and ‘yagams’. Since the successive governments failed in the public health front, people depended on these rituals. It was very bad on the part of doctors to participate in ‘homams’ at hospitals, they said. Demanding the government provide all facilities and infrastructure for the better treatment at all the hospitals, they wanted the authorities to take severe action against those who were responsible for the ‘homam’ at the Gandhi Hospital.
Leaders V. V. Prasadha Rao, Ravindra Soory, M. Mamatha, N. Rama Rao, V. Satyanarayana Rao and M.A. Majeed were present.
