Skip to main content

Top Ahmedabad hospital trustees tell Modi, Rupani: Allow public hospitals to flourish

By A Representative
In an “appeal” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, trustees of Chinai Maternity and Sarabhai General Hospitals, Ahmedabad, one of the biggest in Gujarat, have said that the hospital was “inspired by Gandhiji’s vision of trusteeship and Daridra Narayan, regretting, “poor patients” today are falling “within the cracks of the health system.”
The trust, which has been opposing privatization of the hospitals by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), said in a communiqué that “Sardar Patel in 1930 gave this vision to the better off families of Ahmedabad. The creation of the Chinai Maternity and Sarabhai General Hospitals was a fulfillment of that vision.”
It claimed, “During 85 years of ‘glorious service’ these institutions have flourished and brimmed over with patients. It provided a unique model of partnership between citizens and government that has worked and is worthy of emulation by the rest of the country.”
However, the communiqué said, “Despite the Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme , initiated by the Prime Minister, poor patients continue to fall within the cracks of the health system”, insisting, “There is an urgent need for them to access quality and free health services. The government has a responsibility to provide them free health care through the public health system and the city of Ahmedabad needs more beds within its public hospitals.”
Issued on the occasion of Gandhi’s 150 years birth centenary, it added, “No country can advance and prosper without the strong foundations of public health and education. This was the wisdom and legacy of Gandhi and Patel. Please let our public charitable hospitals live.”
The letter has been signed by Rupa Chinai, Brijesh Chinai, Jay Sheth and Dr Nishith Shah, all board members, Chinai Maternity and Sarabhai General Hospitals, Ahmedabad.

Comments

TRENDING

The “Dr” debate masks a larger crisis in allied-health education

By Dr P K Gupta*  India’s allied-health professions have long operated in a fragmented landscape of universities, hospitals, State authorities and private institutions, each with its own nomenclature, curriculum and standards. The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 was meant to correct this by creating a unified national framework for education, professional regulation and institutional recognition. Few dispute the need for such oversight. The real question is whether standardisation is quietly becoming synonymous with longer courses, additional internships and new professional titles—changes that risk masking deeper gaps in clinical training, institutional capacity and affordability.

Pilgrimage or pollution? The waste crisis of Indian faith

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  In today's times, there are certain issues that are constantly talked about and discussed, yet no visible impact seems to be made. Beyond water, soil, and pollution, one crisis that continues to be overlooked is waste. Like other life-threatening problems, waste too is gradually moving toward burying and obliterating us. After the Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar, approximately 8,000 tonnes of waste were left behind on the riverbanks, including bottles filled with urine. 

Arrival of USS Lincoln: A ‘leisure trip’ to Thailand or a neo-colonial move to commodify women?

By Benyasiri Eimviriyapong   The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for a ‘leisure trip’ in Thailand before returning to its campaign of destruction against the people of West Asia demands immediate interrogation and opposition. For us Thai people, and those in sites of American plunder across the globe, this a rattling of the US’ cold war colonial chains on its most loyal lap dog, while conducting a war of aggression in Iran and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. In allowing the USS Lincoln to dock, the Thai ruling elites are once again facilitating a system of imperial violence that extends far beyond Southeast Asian borders, a system which in our case, is predicated on sexual violence and femicide.