Dailies 2012, Issue 2
Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media
November 27, 2012
Minister’s visit turns into a farce A Health Minister’s visit to a cancer care hospital ended in farce when he threatened to sack one staff member and found patients sleeping on floors. One cancer patient was found lying under a staircase. He had been there for three days. What started as a photo opportunity for Health and Education Minister of Karnataka, S.A. Ramdas, at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, soon turned into a brawl between the minister and the administration. The member of the legislative assembly, who is entrusted with the state’s medical portfolio, visited the hospital to celebrate Kannada Rajyotsava. He announced he would consider setting up a fund to provide children with free cancer treatment after doctors explained that the cost of treatment for each child exceeds Rs. 1,50,000. The hospital would require over Rs. 40 lakhs for an entire year’s worth of treatment. The minister and his entourage then paid a visit to the children’s ward, where he was accompanied by Kannada actress, Priyamani. When asked about her contribution to the fund, she said: “I have nothing to give to these children.” After browsing through an attendance log sheet the minister
Photo: Romana D’Souza
By Romana D’Souza
Mansur Ahmed’s father, Hussain, asleep under a hospital staircase. then threatened to sack a lab technician, S. Lokraj, for poor attendance. He also blamed the technician for sloppy work done on the log sheets. After a spat between them, he moved on to the celebrations awaiting him. Lokraj said: “I will file a case against the minister and the director of the hospital, M. Vijay Kumar if they fire me from my job. I have attendance sheets to prove that my attendance is not the reason why he is warning me.My job is just to collect blood samples, not maintain logs. He’s doing this to set an atmosphere and make it appear as if he is doing real work.” Encouraged by Lokraj’s ob-
jections Lingegowda, a union leader said: “We will go on a strike if any union member is fired. The hospital administration is very corrupt and so is the minister. We know about the embezzlement of the Vajpayee Relief fund that was allocated to provide free drugs to underprivileged cancer patients and we will not hesitate to file an RTI.” The presence of the press at the hospital, led to the kin of many patients to come forward and voice their discontent with the facilities at the hospital. The most shocking sight was to find cancer patients lying on the floor, while their families struggled to check them into wards. All these patients came
from rural Karnataka expecting to avail better treatment. “My father is so sick and has been lying here under the staircase for three days. They make us go through complicated procedures to admit him. It’s cruel to make us wait too long,”said Mansur Ahmed. Idris Khan, spouse of a patient at the hospital said: “I’ve seen the nurses inject a number of patients with the same syringe, which may or may not have been sterilized. Nurses sleep throughout the night and yell at patients if they’re woken up for help. The administration needs to realize that this is not a general hospital, but a cancer care hospital!” Patients complained of doctors prescribing medicines that are supposed to be available for free at the Kidwai cancer drug foundation but are not, leaving them doubtful of what the funds received by the foundation are being used for. When the director was asked about these issues, he said: “People do not know about the facilities. Those who come from villages that are far for tests, we provide them free housing till their biopsy report comes. We provide water, food and so on to them for free. The place is called Dharmashala.” Kidwai Institute of Oncology is a regional cancer centre funded by the Government.
Cops continue to target sexual minorities MORE than ten cases are falsely lodged against members of the transgender community by the Bangalore Police every month, says Sangama, an NGO. Though the number of false cases against the transgender community has reduced since 2000, when around 60-70 cases were registered every month, the police’s policy of falsely accusing members in the transgender community of crimes such as robbery, harassment and assault have not gone away. Sources in the Bangalore Police can confirm that less that 20 per cent of the accused transgenders end up getting convicted. Akkai Padmashli, who works with the NGO said: “In 2009, the number of harassment cases went up, but now it is much lower, though not completely gone away.” She spoke of the case in October of 2009, where police rounded up transgenders and sexually abused them. “In 2009, the police themselves became the tools of sexual violence,” she said.
Photo: Tulika Mall
By Rohan P & Kriti K
Activists and members of LGBT protest at Town Hall. “When the new Police Commissioner was appointed in 2008, he said that he would evict all the transgenders in Bangalore. And though we are much better off in terms of police protection now, we cannot be certain that it will be the case in the future.” Miss Olga, a model and a transgender said” “The level of abuse and discrimination transgender activists face is "extreme." "Your own flesh and blood doesn’t agree that you are a girl.
There is an extreme level of sexual abuse. Socially they are abused; publicly they are abused; it’s everywhere. This issue should come out in a peaceful manner," she said. "We as a minority are not restricted to sex work and begging," she said. According to her, the government of Karnataka is very supportive about transgenders and their community. But they have not implemented what was prom-
ised for them such as housing, education, employment and so on. Gee Ameena Suleiman, a transgender activist of Lesbit, an organization which supports bisexuals and transgenders, spoke out against the Karnataka Police Act: “The Karnataka Police Act is extremely discriminatory. Why should transgenders register ourselves with the police station like criminals?” she asked. The Joint Commissioner of Police, B Dayanand, refused to comment on the allegations when contacted. Activists and NGO’s have been vociferous in their disapproval of the Act. Parul, an LGBT activist believes that they have to fight the act. “They can’t be treated this way. They’re just people, like you and me.” She added: “The police have no business prying into who or what they are,” she said. Rakshita, another transgender working at Sangma, said: ““The Police look at us like we are animals. We often become the vehicles for sexual violence, like rape” she said. >Contd. Pg. 2
Real estate company faces over 600 complaints. >Page 4
Drought leaves state in acute financial crisis. >Page 5
Loksatta media co-ordinator chats to The Observer. >Page 6
Karnataka introduces new services for citizens. >Page 7
Health and education an issue for taluk children. >Page 8
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