Alternative to Civil disobedience for Safe Blood...

-
So – are there alternative solutions other than breaking the law or allowing people to explore accessing care elsewhere?

Yes, a few…

One – set up blood banks – 15 to 20 Lacs for building and equipment, trained manpower and a series of inspections and licenses, which need to be renewed every few years. Realistic – yes in potentially 15% of the current contexts where Blood is required…

Two – Accredit yourself as Storage Centers of an existing Bank. Within a limited distance only, need to have Bank which can allow these storage centers. Need to keep “X” number of Blood always and return and replace….Realistic – tried but failed…..

Three – collect blood from nearby banks in emergency – but if the nearest is 30 to 100 kms away…..will the patient remain alive till then….When the received blood has a PCV of less than 10 or Hb of 3 or 4, or when one finds that the received blood is HIV positive and or if the patient has to shell out anywhere between 2000 to 5000/- for one bottle of blood…?

Fourth – break the law by Un-Banked Direct Transfusions….UBDT……? Today yet another hospital was raided, for UBDTs…..again for saving lives….

Law has to change….but who will change the law….The urbanites in the Metros are not affected, so the story has no Media interest…..The Blood banks are not affected…they are making money anyway….so the market forces are not interested…The state is not interested….HIV prevalence is dropping…Maternal Mortality is someone else’s problem…..

It affects the poor, communities from the not so visible in rural India – the invisible Bharat…people whose voices which are not normally heard….are there someone who will carry these voices to the corridors of power…?

Civil disobedience – is that the answer…but how many of us are willing to go to jail…follow Mahatma’s footsteps…

Again a request for those who have ideas to contribute…..

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three Learnings....

-
Image
This is the “report” of a recent faith-based health worker gathering—not the typical blog! I was compelled by what I witnessed over the last two days to write down three key observations and learnings.   The gathering brought together doctors, nurses, administrators, allied health professionals, data managers, priests, sisters, and laypeople, all engaged in listening to one another. While the structure of the system had its usual strong hierarchy, much like any healthcare system, what stood out to me was the absence of an "us vs. them" mentality. They were all there to learn from each other—nurses working alone in remote and challenging areas, administrators struggling with the sustainability of large institutions, and doctors stretched to their limits. It was a community of learning and growth!   When will I learn to live without an "us vs. them" mentality? In my mind, I often divide people into 'us' and 'them'—categories that seem justified by my o...
Read more

Humanity without boundaries, Love without Borders

-
Image
Visiting the “Genocide Museum” at Kigali was sobering. The pain the nation, communities, families, and individuals went through, and the millions murdered was beyond comprehension.   Seeing the museum, with all the pictures and videos of atrocities perpetuated by one community against their own brothers and sisters was disturbing and confusing. How can brothers and sisters kill their own?  But then this is true of many nations, including my own.  What encouraged us was – the national leaders had the vision to put the brokenness of their own nation, out there in the public as reminder for upcoming generations. Yes, the past is painful, but it must be openly communicated so that we can learn from our mistakes and not end up doing it again.  But then, many other nations too have created such memorials. Cambodia, Holocaust museums, Bosnia, and such others. Friends who have visited these locations told us, all these have something in common. These nations had the courage ...
Read more

Difference...

-
Image
What makes an organization different? I am not talking about successful or great organizations but different. Different means making a difference in the world and transforming lives.   I was sitting in the back of a conference hall listening to the leaders from 19 hospitals reporting on what has happened over the last year. A few observations from what I heard:   1. Leadership with a bigger picture: Leaders who understand why they are doing what they are doing. They have clarity that institutions and organisations are merely platforms to make a difference in the contexts where they are placed. Leaders who prioritise vision and values above  self, people above institution, and larger mandate above money. Their lives open to be transformed and through those changes others are challenged to change too.    2. Leadership in their prime age: One might ask, what is prime age? With our nation having more than 55% of its population under 35 years of age, the average age ...
Read more