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A Monumental Work for Health Justice
Textbook of Global Health by Anne-Emanuelle Birn, Yogan Pillay and Timothy H Holtz, New York: Oxford University Press, 2017; pp xxxvi + 674; fourth edition, price not indicated.
On 7 February 2018, in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, the police arrested a “quack” for infecting 58 people with HIV by using the same unsterilised syringe. He was treating them for coughs and colds and charged only ₹10 per injection. Newspapers reported that 25 of them had been referred to Kanpur for antiretroviral (ART) treatment. Irate villagers complained that, given the absence of public health facilities, they had no option but to avail the services of the “quack,” who was always there, and was kind and friendly, unlike the staff at the nearest public health centre (PHC). The PHC was also shabby, neglected, and without adequate doctors or medicines.
On 30 November 2017, a pair of twins were born pre-term at the upscale Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh, Delhi; a hospital so upscale, one has to go through a security check before entering. Upon being declared dead in the hospital, while being taken for the last rites, it was noticed that one of the babies was alive. Admitted into another hospital, the baby died after a week on life support. With the massive backlash that ensued against this private hospital, the government was forced to cancel its licence.
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