Fortis charges over Rs 15 lakh to treat child with dengue

 

• Every person, especially who is doling out lakhs of rupees to hospital, is entitled to know the details for all such payments prior to payment and and justification thereof and whether the treatment is being done in right direction or not.
• Self certification that there is no negligence, no over billing done, all protocols followed etc are unacceptable when parents/children/relatives of the patient are kept in dark about the condition of patient deteriorating and at the end patient dies.
• Isolating the patient in ICU in the name of 'infection control' is another reason for trauma.
• The underlying reason is the greed of the corporate hospitals having invested crores of rupees in the hospital & its facilities and doctors who spend millions for acquiring their medical degree and post graduation degrees etc.
• Teaching, Medical and Justice dispensation are noble professions, and doctors and hospitals must follow ethics under all circumstances. Immorality and corruption in these professions are contemptible. Justification that their degradation is in line with general degradation of society as such, is unacceptable nonsense.
• Corporate hospitals & doctors charging exorbitant amounts resulted in abnormal premiums being paid by all insurers.
• Prima facie, 660 syringes and 2700 gloves indicates the whole bill is cooked up and the patient might have passed some days before. Only a thorough criminal investigation will bring truth to the forefront.

An elite class that is free to operate without limits - whether limits imposed 

by the rule of law or fear of the responses from those harmed by their behavior - 

is an elite class that will plunder, degrade, and cheat at will, and act endlessly 

to fortify its own power ... Glenn Greenwald

In the absence self discipline and adherence to ethical practices, robust consumer protection laws, active consumer awareness and ruthless law enforcement mechanisms, emulating liberalization and promoting private sector and destroying public sector is grossly injurious to semi literate societies like ours. Today, the condition of government hospitals and schools doesn't enthuse anyone to avail its services. Arogyasri, Tuition fee reimbursement etc seemingly does good for common man but in reality it fills coffers of corporate hospitals and fulfill greed of doctors while depriving precious funds for government colleges and hospitals. The realistic solution would be strong govt and non-profit trust hospitals virtually competing with corporate hospitals. Govt must increase its spending from present 1.2% of GDP to at least 5% of GDP on health care and also spending on school education from present 2.5% to over 5% of GDP, of course with transparency and accountability and corruption eliminated. This requires political will and administrative honesty apart from public patronizing. 

Hardik Patel, the BJP's tormentor-in-chief

Despite five consecutive defeats, the Congress has proved to be a tenacious opponent for BJP in Gujarat elections. In the 2012 assembly elections, the votes difference between the BJP and Congress was just over 10% per cent. The BJP's 115 (out of 182) seat victory was a close contest in many constituencies, with margin less than 5,000 votes. The pre-election sentiment in Gujarat is clear. The BJP is in a weaker position. 

• Not only Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is making an impact, but the Congress's axis with Hardik, Alpesh and Jignesh makes it a formidable adversary. A 6% vote swing could prove catastrophic for the BJP.
• A 24-year-old Hardik Patel, has become the BJP's biggest electoral headache. Alpesh Thakor, 40, a leader from the OBC Kshatriya-Thakor community and  Jignesh Mevani, 36, a Dalit leader from Una are political influencers within their communities. The trio has teamed up with the Congress ensuring a straight fight against the BJP and BJP is in deep trouble.

Hardik Patel (24)

• Hardik's battle for reservation began when his sister was denied a scholarship in 2015 and a friend of hers with lower marks managed under the OBC quota. But that was merely a trigger. A skilful orator since his schooldays, Hardik Patel only honed his skills while he was in college and is now putting them to good use.
• Political ambition is what drives Hardik. In his first rally seeking reservation for Patels in July 2015 in Visnagar in north Gujarat his supporters allegedly beat up the local Patel MLA. On Aug 25, he addressed a massive Patel rally for reservation at Ahmedabad, asking then CM Anandiben Patel to come to the venue and take a representation from him. A savage police lathicharge by 4,000 policemen sent the Patels across large parts of Gujarat on a rampage, attacking police stations and uprooting railway lines. This provoked further police retaliation resulting in the death of 14 Patels.
• When other leaders need to have crowds 'organised' for their public meetings, Hardik's public rallies draw crowds of anywhere between 10,000 and 40,000 in big meetings and 5,000-10,000 in small village meetings. His anti-BJP rhetoric has struck a chord among Patels, particularly the youth in the community. The core of his appeal is emotional-revenge for the death of the 14 Patels killed in police firing during the 2015 pro-reservation agitation. And who better to avenge the Patels than a leader jailed for 10 months and banished from Gujarat on charges of waging war against the nation?
• "Don't forget the atrocities committed on Patels by this government in 2015," Hardik repeats at each rally. "They killed 14 youths and didn't spare even mothers and sisters while thrashing us. The time to take revenge on the BJP for those atrocities has come."
• At a rally, he urges crowds to dispassionately vote against the BJP. "Even if my father or mother contests on a BJP ticket, your only response should be to defeat them. The BJP is so opportunistic that if Dawood joins their party, they will say the 1993 blast victims died of Chikungunya."
• A series of strategic mistakes by the BJP have fueled the rise of Hardik and turned him into a hero within his community. It did not punish the policemen who targeted the Patels in 2015. Instead, it slapped sedition charges on Hardik thinking he would break. But months of jail and banishment failed to crush his spirit. Then the BJP tried to slap police charges on him, leaked footage of his meetings with Rahul Gandhi, tried to buy out his colleagues like Varun Patel and Reshma Patel and then, finally, tried to take advantage of the sex CD, which Hardik alleges they themselves made. However, all this has only served to strengthen the halo around him and cement the lore of a 24-year-old David taking on the mighty Goliath.
• Since Feb 2016, Hardik has addressed 250 rallies, both big and small. There are farmers, youth and women in the gathering. But his core audience almost always comprises Patels. And that is what is giving the BJP sleepless nights. The Patel community was BJP's primary vote bank since 1985. Patels form less than 14% of Gujarat's population but are a political force that have a tendency to vote en bloc when they feel strongly about an issue.
• On Nov 18, 2017 when three 'sex' CDs allegedly involving Hardik Patel were being discussed on several TV channels, Hardik teared into BJP "I have lived as many years as the BJP has been in power in Gujarat? Instead of making a sex CD of a 24-year-old, unmarried boy, the BJP should make CDs to show people what it has done for Gujarat in these 22 years. Why farmers are in distress in the state and why there is joblessness though it has ruled Gujarat for two decades," he thundered, in chaste Gujarati.
• The crowd erupted. If the CDs were intended to paint Patel as a sex fiend, they seemed to have had the opposite effect; he's very much a local hero.
• At another roadside gathering, Hardik continues in the same vein. "The time has come to defeat the tanashahi (imperiousness) of the BJP. Using unethical means and misusing power to defeat political rivals reflect its arrogance. The more it resorts to unethical means, the more the people will react against it."
• It's difficult to believe the 24-year-old has become the BJP's biggest nightmare. Hardik displays a political maturity way beyond his years and his astuteness and ability to turn crisis into opportunity is something BJP is worried about. 
• When the sex CDs surfaced he called the BJP "sex CD experts" and went on to rebuke "That's their main weapon when it comes to putting down rivals. They think if they can't win in a straight contest they can win by intimidation. These CDs are morphed, but even if they weren't, does it justify what the BJP did?" Sensing that they had lost the battle, the BJP beat a hasty retreat, distancing itself from the CDs after an initial attempt to exploit the footage to pull down Hardik.
• Patel votes matter substantially in nearly 70 of Gujarat's 182 assembly seats and less significantly in two dozen seats. Worryingly for the BJP traditional rivals of the Patels, are not turning towards the BJP. 
• An independent psephologist, who has conducted two surveys on Gujarat, one in Aug and Oct 2017, says the BJP's vote lead over the Congress has registered a precipitous fall from 30% to 6% in three months.
• Hardik's mother chips in: "When he was in jail, he was offered a huge sum by the BJP to join the party's Yuva Morcha." The BJP denies the charge.
• Hardik has an electric connect with the crowds. Anyone who comes to his public meeting, can't leave till his speech ends - says a political analyst. The BJP has an edge in the election thanks to the PM Modi's charisma but still Hardik is "the BJP's tormentor-in-chief".
• Congress party's political fortunes might seem brighter than they were three months back thanks to the support of the three Young Turks and the new-found appeal of Rahul Gandhi and the efforts of party leaders. 
• Modi addressed rallies in Kutch, Saurashtra and Surat tearing into the Congress with his one-liners. "I will sell tea but not our nation," he thundered at a rally in Saurashtra. 
• In BJP, caste has for the first time in many years played a key role in the selection of candidates. And Patels have been the gainers in ticket distribution in both the parties. The BJP has given them 53 seats and the Congress 47, the highest by the party in many years. 
• The questionable implementation of the GST, the resultant job losses, has altered the situation. and none in Gujarat believe the BJP will get 150 seats. 
• Modi has prevailed upon BJP strategists, including Amit Shah, to project a softer image of the party before the people as he thinks that the defection politics and highhandedness it has practised against its rivals could cost them dear. 
• Modi is subtly hinting at the benefits of having the BJP in power in both Delhi and Gandhinagar. Vote for the BJP and the benefits to Gujarat will continue. But the impact on the electorate as yet is unclear.
• Meanwhile, as many as 40 central and state ministers have been deployed in the state to ensure the victory of the BJP. The BJP's posh party headquarters is buzzing with central ministers, MPs and office-bearers from across the country dropping in.
• Congress is projecting itself a pro-Hindu party, this time, and 9.67% Muslims in Gujarat stands ignored and are keeping their cards close to chest. Muslims have significant presence in at least 25 assembly constituencies. Muslims are divided and dummy candidates ensure that Muslim votes are divided. In the end, Muslims pushed to margins have to chose the party which causes least damage to them.

Winning elections is one thing and retaining power is another thing. Winning often depends on anti-incumbency and some funny vote catching issues rather than any larger issues, efforts for retaining power makes powerful people stoop to levels of indecency and loss of character. Today what we are seeing in Modi is the second one. Modi and BJP having failed to perform to the levels they projected themselves are running from pillar to post to retain power which rarely works. Politicians lying and abusing is rampant in India, but Prime Minister lying and abusing appears awkward. Even God can't save Modi & BJP in Gujarat elections from their misdeeds and blatant lies. December 18th is not far away.

Joblessness: Modi's Achilles' heel of 2019 elections

• In 2013 election campaigning, Modi PM candidate of the BJP, at a rally in Agra thundered "If the BJP comes to power, it will provide one crore jobs every year" which is now haunting him.
• In May 2017, a Labour Bureau quarterly report noted that a mere 230,000 jobs were created in eight key sectors from Apr-Dec 2016, a far cry from Modi's 2013 promise. This, when over a million aspirants enter the Indian job market every month. 
• The GDP growth slipped to 5.7% in the Apr-Jun quarter, the lowest in three years, with manufacturing growing at a five-year low of 1.2%, from 10.7% a year ago.
• CMIE estimates that about 1.5 million jobs were lost during January-April 2017, the first quarter after the Nov 2016 demonetisation exercise. Worse, India is set to see a further 30-40% reduction of jobs in manufacturing compared with last year.
• With a general election in less than two years, the dearth of jobs could prove the Achilles' heel of the Modi government, rein in the high prices of essential goods and rectify anomalies in the GST. 
• RBI, in its monetary policy statement on Oct 4, reiterated the need for recapitalising banks.
• Currently 30,000 new youngsters are joining the job market every day, yet the government is creating only 500 jobs a day - Rahul Gandhi said, even as he admitted that the UPA government too faced the same challenge.
• India could have been sailing smoothly at 10% plus growth, but for the spate of disruptions, including demonetisation, GST, RERA and the new bankruptcy norms. Individually they may carry a broad range of benefits, together they have inflicted collateral damage much more than was anticipated.
• The real estate sector, which creates 1.5 million jobs, has been the worst hit. Home sales fell 26% in the Delhi-NCR in the first half of 2017 as demand nosedived post-demonetisation. Unsold inventory in the Delhi-NCR stood at 180,000 units and it will take developers four-and-a-half years to sell it.
• As many as 67 textile units are reported to have shut down across the country, rendering 17,600 people jobless.
• In Nov 2016 Larsen & Toubro sacked 14,000 employees, 11.2% of its workforce, as business slowed down and digitisation left many employees redundant. IT companies, including Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Cognizant, laid off tens of thousands of staff as global business grew tougher. HDFC Bank laid off 11,000 workers over three quarters citing digitisation. Yes Bank eliminated more than 10% of its workforce citing increased redundancy, poor performance and the impact of digitisation. Hiring intentions in corporates are 20 percentage points lower year-over-year. In the informal sector lakhs of workers go jobless as construction projects dry up given the unprecedented investment slowdown.
• Manufacturing was stuttering despite the government's high-decibel 'Make in India' campaign. Acquiring land for setting up manufacturing units continued to be tough. Private investment growth has been falling since 2012. The country still ranked a low 130th in the World Bank's ease of doing business rankings.
• India's job challenge is staggering, to put it mildly. The country needs to create 16 million jobs a year for the next 15 years to take advantage of its demographic dividend.
• In key areas like textiles, India has ceded its leadership to countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam.
• Adding to the manufacturing woes is the implementation of new digital technologies like the internet of things, cloud computing and artificial intelligence in the manufacturing process, making traditional jobs obsolete. These technologies with a squeeze in services, are affecting IT jobs too.
• Sectors like construction, real estate, power, energy, infrastructure are destroying jobs. There has been a 30% decline in job creation since 2007-08 in these sectors.
• Short-term job creation looks near-impossible since we have been focusing on the wrong kind of manufacturing for 60 years, and are now paying the price.
• Bank credit has fallen by 50 per cent. New projects are not coming up as private investment is drying up. Focus on construction will also boost the steel and cement industry. Construction and infrastructure can boost economic activity and jobs substantially, but they have been marred by time and cost overruns. As critical as supporting giant projects is extending help to small entrepreneurs. 
• Recapitalisation of banks can also help them lend to businesses, given that bad loans to the extent of Rs 7.7 lakh crore have weakened their capacity to lend.
• IT is losing its sheen as a significant job provider, with markets such as the US becoming more protectionist. Technological advances are also rendering the work force obsolete at a faster clip. 
• This could be the right time to boost consumption through lowering interest rates or giving government subsidies to certain businesses.
• Reviving the informal sector remains the biggest challenge. It's impossible to gauge the extent of joblessness given paucity of data. There is simmering discontent waiting to explode that we must prevent. We must act now.
• The government has also increased budgetary allocations for anti-poverty programmes and rural employment generation schemes. The highest ever allocation under the MGNREGA was made during 2017-18. About 51.2 million households were provided employment during 2016-17.
• The larger debate continues to be over what India should focus on: manufacturing or services. Growth in the recent period has been driven by services, which in itself was owing to substantial inflows of foreign finance. India needs rapid manufacturing growth fueled by both export growth and expansion of the domestic market. 
• Today's joblessness is similar to that of late 1960's which prompted PM Indira Gandhi to amend Apprenticeship Act in 1973 to include training of graduate and diploma engineers as "Graduate" & "Technician" Apprentices and to mitigate their problem.
• Jobs will remain a thorn in this government's side which appears unsolvable and will have telling effect in 2019 elections. 

Good or bad aside, during UPA regime GDP growth benefited all, despite corruption and scams except 2008 global recession and 2013 economic dip. Modi riding the wave of anti incumbency and joblessness became PM in 2014 and instantly forgot his promises and commitments. He focused on foreign jaunts and blaming predecessor and did nothing for next two years. The advantage of low oil prices since 2013 was squandered away. Without even discussing with economic experts, he ventured on quack advised demonetisation and mangled GST roll out without adequate preparation and keeping away keys sectors out of GST and economy plunged into distress and millions jobs lost. Banks recapitalisation was given a miss and today banks do just retail banking only. In 2017 almost all economic parameters are worse than in 2013 and nothing much is likely to happen in next two years prior to 2019 elections. Modi & BJP are certain to pay price for their arrogance and incompetency.