MP: From Bimaru State to a State of Innocent Deaths
Jaswinder Singh
MADHYA PRADESH is in the news for many reasons these days. But these discussions are so tragic for the state that they have silenced the children’s laughter that once echoed in many homes. Now, there is mourning in those homes. There are the sighs and cries of family members. This situation has been created by commission (bribe) lust. At the time of writing, 26 innocent children have died, one after another.
The question is: could these innocent lives have been saved? Could mothers' laps be prevented from becoming empty? It was possible, but the first and fundamental condition for that is the presence of a responsible and pro people government. Madhya Pradesh has a BJP government. And there is loot. This plunder has swallowed the lives of innocent people.
It all started with the death of a child in Chhindwara district. If the government had been alert at that time, the lives of the next 25 children could have been saved. When the condition of these children deteriorated and they were referred to Nagpur for treatment, the doctor there advised to stop the use of a poisonous cough syrup. But even after that, the same cough syrup was given to the children. When the number of children dying increased to seven, then it was banned in Chhindwara. It continued to be sold in other districts of the state for four days after that. Innocent children continued to face death. Later, the stock of the syrup was also seized from the dealer of that syrup in Jabalpur, but by then, about five lakh syrups had been supplied to various hospitals and medical stores in the state, regarding which the government and administration have not taken any decision till now. It is clear that even after such a big incident, the danger has not been averted. The government is interested in covering up the deaths of innocent people. If the social background of the deaths so far is investigated, then all the children belong to tribal, Dalit, minority and some backward class communities. From the economic point of view, all the children belong to poor families.
GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSIBILITY
While the BJP government is busy concealing and covering up the deaths of children, news of these deaths has spread worldwide. The World Health Organisation has asked the Indian government to disclose names of other countries to which India has exported this syrup, so that the governments there can be advised to ban it.
Ironically, after the arrest of the owner of the syrup manufacturing company, the Mohan Yadav government is trying to propagate that everything is fine now. But tampering with not only the health but also the lives of the people of the state continues even today. The government is not prepared to disclose what arrangements are in place to test life-saving medicines.
There are a total of three drug testing laboratories in the state. The lab in the Capital, Bhopal, can test 2,000 drugs annually. Combined with the drug labs in Jabalpur and Indore, the state has the capacity to test only 6,000 drug samples. However, the state receives 40,000 drug samples for testing. This simply means that 34,000 out of 40,000 drugs are being prescribed to patients without testing. The insecurity of ordinary citizens’ lives under BJP rule is evident from the fact that 85 per cent of the drugs in the state are being administered to patients without testing. If they are still safe, it’s their fate.
The BJP state government is concealing a fact: these three drug labs have only four drug analysts. In addition, 12 persons are outsourced workers. Testing a single sample takes approximately ten hours. A maximum of two or three samples are tested per day. To test all the samples, at least 100 drug analysts are needed. Even after including outsourcing, the number remains at 16. Despite an 84 per cent shortage of analysts, the BJP is still trying to convince everyone that the state’s health infrastructure is in good shape.
The second question is: towards whom is the government’s commitment? To the people of the state or to pharmaceutical companies? Substandard medicines are also being distributed to patients in government hospitals across the state. According to the CAG report, 68 substandard medicines are still being administered to patients in government hospitals across the state. These include medicines given to pregnant women before and after operations, stomach medications, medicines to prevent lung inflammation, medicines to prevent blood-related disorders, medicines given in emergency situations during heart attacks, medicines to prevent viruses, and medicines given to kidney patients. The BJP government’s sole aim is to earn commissions. Therefore, drug supply contracts are repeatedly being awarded to blacklisted companies.
HOSPITALS AT MERCY OF RATS
The state of hospitals and public health infrastructure in the state is deteriorating under BJP rule. In the western parts of the state—Malwa and Nimar—Indore’s MY (Maharaja Yashwant) Hospital is considered the lifeline of the public. But even before these 26 children died from a simple cough, a heartbreaking incident occurred. Two newborns admitted to the nursery died from rat bites. This news was published in the newspaper. The administration and government initially tried hard to deny the incident, but when another child died from rat bites and photos of the rats went viral in the media and social media, the doctor in charge was suspended, assuming the situation had improved.
Then it was the turn of northern Madhya Pradesh. Gwalior’s Jayarogya Hospital is not only the largest hospital in the region’s eight districts, but patients from several districts of Uttar Pradesh, from Etawa to Mainpuri, also seek treatment here. While the rats didn’t cause any harm, the rats’ scurrying about in the intensive care unit worried not only the patients but also their families. After this incident was reported in the newspapers, action was taken against a doctor, and it was claimed that the system has improved.
MANUVADI GOVERNMENT
Following the uproar over cough syrup deaths, the Chief Minister met with the children undergoing treatment in Nagpur and their families. The Chief Minister also visited the homes of the families of some of the deceased children to console them. However, the RSS-controlled BJP government’s Manuwadi attitude was evident here as well. For the past several years, the state government has provided compensation of Rs One crore to the families of the deceased. However, these children belonged to the lowest castes of the caste system. They were children of Dalit, tribal, backward class, and minority communities. Therefore, instead of providing relief to their families in the name of compensation, the government has hurt them and rubbed salt in the name of balm. The BJP government has announced only four lakh rupees as compensation for them. This amount is also stuck in the administrative process at the time of writing.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
The most pressing question is why the government is unwilling to take responsibility for the deaths of 26 innocent children after being administered poisonous cough syrup, and earlier, for the deaths of newly born babies at Indore’s MY Hospital due to rat bites. Rajnath Singh has long stated that resignations are not a tradition in the BJP government. The state’s Health Minister is also the Deputy Chief Minister. He is satisfied with the action taken so far. No one is willing to take responsibility for why the children were administered the poisonous syrup without proper testing of the samples. Despite warnings from a Nagpur doctor, why did its distribution stop only after the deaths of 26 children? Why are 85 per cent of the drugs still being given to patients without testing? Why is the distribution of 68 substandard drugs still continuing in government hospitals? And why has hospital management been left to rats? All these questions remain unanswered. Meanwhile, the Deputy Chief Minister is silent, while Chief Minister Mohan Yadav is trying to convince the Bihar voters that he is a bigger Yadav than Tejashwi and Akhilesh.
