Why doesn't the Union Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss just stop using his authority in insignificant issues? There are ample of *real* health problems facing this nation that the health ministry should concentrate on fixing rather than spending time and energy in pursuing insignificant policies that really make no difference to those who desperately need healthcare the most.
First his feud with the AIIMS director Dr. Venugopal. Ramadoss should be punished for wasting unprecedented amount of his, his ministry's and Supreme Court's time in pursuit of his fight against Venugopal, and his blatant defiance of court order in ousting Venugopal from his job. The feud arose out of Anbumani's insistent that Government should have more control in administration and decision making of AIIMS, the most coveted medical institute in the nation. When Venugopal tried to fight Ramadoss's attempt to reduce the institution's autonomy, Ramadoss changed the employment rules to put a limit of 65 yrs on the age of retirement. Why? So that he could get rid of Venugopal who was 67. A shameless way to remove a rival who actually was a only few months away from his retirement. The fierce fight ended with Supreme Court reinstating Venugopal with all respect due to the AIIMS director. A loss of face for Anbumani at the cost of damage to India’s premier institute’s image.
One of the insignificant policies he tried to deploy was ban on smoking in movies and TV ads. God knows how that would have reduced addiction of smokers to cigarettes. I don’t think people in this country, or for that matter anywhere in the world resort to smoking because they see their movie icons do so. Next on his plate was harassing film personalities like Amitabh Bacchan and Shahrukh Khan by asking them to quit smoking. Then next was banning smoking at public places. Why is he so much after smoking related issues ? Although the thinking behind a ban on smoking in public places is noble, that’s not what is driving Ramadoss to act. Staying in news is the reason driving him. And what about the enforcement of this law? Not very effective. I tried reminding a person smoking in public place about the ban once and he told me to shut up and mind my business. Why is Ramadoss spending so much of his valuable time on upliftment of those who are smart and capable enough of figuring out the ill effects of smoking on their own health ? Don’t the more deprived citizens in the society, desperate for good health care but incapable of affording it, deserve more favor from the health ministry ?
It’s true that Ramadoss has done some real good work as a Health Minister. But his penchant to get sucked into controversies relating to issues that hardly matter to anyone dwarf all his good work. If the Health Minister was so much after adding accomplishments to his credit, to begin with he could have thought about systems he can put in place to make the deliverance of government's Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) scheme (an initiative by government to eradicate all the common epidemics) more effective. He could have set an aim for his ministry, of pioneering total eradication of epidemics that have been wiped out in western nations years ago, but still cause casualties across the length and breadth of India.
Another big problem harassing the nation is 'Malnutrition'. Come out with new schemes to eradicate malnutrition or make existing ones more deliverable. Smoking problem needs no attention when you have graver health problems in this country. Even if you clamp down all smoking related advertisements and messages, people who want to smoke are going to find out ways to do so no matter what.
Ramadoss is more inclined toward implementing policies that do *not*matter than those that do. PMK, one of those nonsense political parties supports the UPA and in return the PMK chief’s son - Anbumani Ramadoss - is granted a crucial cabinet berth. Thanks to coalition politics. Elections are round the corner and we can only hope that we don’t get to bear the brunt of Ramadoss’s overdose ever again.
Authored by: Mandar Garge
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