Page 12 - EW May 2023_Neat

Editorial

UGLY FACE OF MEDICAL PROFESSION have gone further and punished in-
dividual doctors who refuse to treat
patients during life threatening emer-
he 17-day strike called by private tion, all citizens have a fundamental gencies without pre-payment.
medical practitioners in Rajast- right to life and liberty which other In this connection, it’s curious that
Than in response to the Rajasthan citizens are obliged to respect, quite while government and the courts are
Medical Care (RMC) Act, 2022, which rightly made it obligatory for all hos- adamantly against “commercialisa-
ended on April 4 after unaided private pitals, clinics and facilities to admit tion of education,” they have turned
hospitals which have not received aid and attend to patients in any medical a blind eye to rampant commerciali-
or facilitation by the government were emergency without insisting on “pre- sation of healthcare. It’s an irony that
exempted, was a national disgrace and payment”, a widespread practice coun- a large number of practising doctors
exposed the ugly face of the medical trywide. This was an overdue provi- who heartlessly demand pre-payment
profession. The pay-first practice of sion, given that government hospitals or else, have received highly subsi-
the healers’ profession in other states and facilities are too few and spread dised education in the country’s 273
of the country is no different. out in the state (pop.82 million). government medical colleges. Even
The Hippocrates Oath is taken by However, the Act aroused great re- in private medical colleges, a sub-
all medical practitioners when they sentment within the medical fraternity stantial percentage of students pay
graduate. The latest version approved of the state who called a general strike government-controlled tuition fees
by the World Medical Association in of almost two weeks during which subsidised by taxpayers.
2022 inter alia enjoins duly qualified private doctors also shut their clinics, Under s.12 (1) (c) of the Right to
medical practitioners to swear to “not causing great harm to the public. Education Act, 2009, private schools
allow his/her judgement to be influ- Finally, the strike was called off are obliged to admit poor children in
enced by personal profit or unfair dis- when the (Congress) government their neighbourhood free-of-charge
crimination; be dedicated to provid- agreed to exempt private hospitals into class I and retain them until class
ing competent medical service, in full with capacity of less than 50 beds VIII. The cost of educating them is to
professional and moral independence, which had not been allotted any gov- be recovered from the State accord-
with compassion and respect for hu- ernment concessions such as land at ing to a prescribed formula. A similar
man dignity...” concessional price and hospitals run- obligation should be imposed upon
Against this backdrop, the RMC Act ning in public-private partnership all medical practitioners. The right to
which reminds the medical fraternity mode, defeating the major purpose of life itself should be placed on a higher
that under Article 21 of the Constitu- the RMC Act. Indeed the Act should pedestal than the right to education.

RECKLESS DISTORTION OF HISTORY academia.
Be that as it may, protest of the
250 academics about omission of
he omission of the epochal of students. However, the protestors 300 years of Mughal rule over In-
Mughal era (1526-1857) and including academics highlight that the dia from the history texts of school-
Treferences to the importance deletions from history texts are conve- leaving class XII students can hardly
Mahatma Gandhi attached to Hindu- niently customised to suit the electoral be brushed aside. It’s pertinent to
Muslim unity as also his assassina- campaign messaging and anti-Muslim note that the 28,560 schools affili-
tion by a Hindu/RSS fanatic in 1948, prejudice of the BJP which is ruling at ated with the Central Board of School
in the model class XII history text- the Centre and in several states. Education (CBSE) — the country’s
book written and commissioned by In support of their contention, they largest national exams board which
the National Council for Educational point out that the new class XII text- includes schools top-ranked by Edu-
Research & Training (NCERT) — an book fails to mention that Mahatma cationWorld — are obliged to teach
autonomous subsidiary of the Union Gandhi was assassinated by Nathu these fractured, distorted histories to
education ministry — has sparked na- Ram Godse, who was a member of the their school-leaving students. With
tionwide outrage. Over 250 respected RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), no knowledge of Mughal rule, how
historians have written to the Union the ideological mentor organisation will they explain the Taj Mahal, Qutb
education ministry protesting acts of the BJP. Nor does it mention that Minar, Red Fort and other grand
of omission and commission in this Gandhiji died in the cause of Hindu- monuments of Mughal India to their
model NCERT approved history text- Muslim unity. children? Or the presence of 215 mil-
book which is likely to be approved by The incumbent chairman of lion Muslims in India? Or indeed the
a large number of state governments NCERT is Dr. Dinesh Prasad Sakhlani, music, cuisine and sartorial fashions
and prescribed for CBSE-affiliated hitherto professor of ancient history of the country?
and state schools countrywide. at HNB Garhwal University, Uttara- Crass American tycoon Henry
NCERT spokespersons have justi- khand. He and other board members Ford famously opined that “history is
fied the deletions on grounds that be- of NCERT underscore the BJP govern- bunk”. On the contrary, it is perhaps
cause of learning loss during the 82- ment’s proclivity to appoint relatively the most important subject of all. It
week pandemic shutdown of schools obscure academics with greater in- tells us who we were, how we got here
countrywide, it had become neces- terest in the pre-Delhi Sultanate and and why we are who we are. That’s vi-
sary to lighten the curriculum load Mughal periods to high positions in tally important knowledge.

12 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2023