Ailing medicare

It is true that medical malpractices (series “Patients or victims?” by Chitleen K Sethi) are rampant and private medicare has become a lucrative business. However, there are hospitals as well as doctors in private healthcare who render ethical and professional services to society.

The state of public health care system, especially in Punjab, is rather poor. That is why people prefer private hospitals. Of course, there is an urgent need to develop some ways to review and regulate private hospitals. Besides, public health care system should be upgraded.

Dr T P SINGH, SAS Nagar

II

The Tribune deserves praise for bringing the nasty truth to the fore. Indeed, the private medicare is afflicted by many ills. Malpractices are rampant. Doctors must pay heed to the Hippocratic oath and render service to the humanity.

RAVJOT SINGH, Toronto, Canada

Pension benefits

Earlier, only the spouse was entitled to family pension and after the death of the spouse, children below 21 years of age could avail family pension. With the constant efforts of pensioners’ associations the scheme was extended to include widow or divorcee daughter and even unmarried daughter, provided the income is within the prescribed limit.

The widow daughter-in-law, who serves the pensioner in their old age, is not included in the family pension scheme. Our association is of the firm opinion that the widow daughter-in-law must be included in the family pension scheme.

SHER SINGH, Chairman,  N. Railway Pensioners Welfare  Association, Ludhiana

Help farm sector

Perhaps, India will gain with the end of the US recession (editorial, “Positive signals”, Oct 31). However, our party, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), is of the opinion that the farm sector is the Achilles heel of the Indian economy. The American, Japanese and German economies have been lifted out of recession due to the fact that even Barack Obama had to fall back on Keynesian economics, as did America during the Great Depression and Europe after World War II, through the Marshall Aid Plan for the post-war reconstruction of the continent. 

Maybe, India survived in the recent economic crisis because Dr Manmohan Singh did not give up his faith in Keynes. Our party would strongly suggest that if the Indian economy is to carry on with its rise, the Union government will have to infuse the farm sector with a great deal of government spending.

The marginal farmer who gets no benefits from subsidies, bank credits, irrigation and electricity needs to be pulled out of such depravity.

In the farm sector there have been far too many suicide deaths. These are grave economic governmental errors leading to disastrous political instability. Such a step would also be wise in deterring the poverty stricken rural sector from embracing extremist’s left-wing ideologies.

Even if the Maoists succeed in their armed struggle they will have to resuscitate Keynes, not Marx, whose economic theory has failed to make the proletariat rise out of its economic misery and hopelessness. Paradoxically and ironically  Marx’s philosophy has turned the Indian communists into the neo-bourgeoisie.

SIMRANJIT SINGH MANN, 
President, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), Fatehgarh Sahib