No one can deny the fact that various health departments have extreme issues to overcome in enabling health care for all (“ >An overburdened public sector and exploitative private sector ,” July 3). If even the poor hesitate to approach public health centres, it is because of the prevalence of nepotism and corruption. The government has to initiate steps to put an end to the trust deficient. An efficient public health system is in everyone’s interests.
K.M. Abdul Salim,
Edavanakad, Kerala
The article has drawn attention to a connection so often ignored in popular rhetoric — that between poverty and ill-health. Borrowing to pay for exorbitant medical expenses demanded by the private sector has pushed many further into the sinkhole of poverty. The new government wants to open an IIT in every State. Instead, its priority should be to open at least one model public hospital in every district which will provide affordable and multi-speciality health care.
T.K.S. Thathachari,
Bangalore
India is renowned for quality health care — but this is only for those who can afford it. For the poor, it’s a different story. What we need are more government medical colleges and institutions. Only then can the immense number of the poor and the sick access health care.
Ayush Raturi,
Dehradun
The abysmally poor quality of treatment in government hospitals and the prohibitive cost in private hospitals place the poor between the devil and the deep sea. The situation has come to such a pass that to be poor in India is terrible; to be poor and also gravely ill is an unfathomable thought. With proper government regulations and monitoring, private hospitals should be made more accessible to the poor along with raising the quality and reach of public health care.
Ayyasseri Raveendranath,
Aranmula, Kerala
