Health Mela

The idea of "Mela" that i recall from my childhood memories is a place crowded by colourful people buying, selling, eating, laughing, shouting and running around. Some of them were in the bank of Brahmaputra to celebrate any festive occasions and some in a huge field called Chowkidingi feild.I remembered my fathers enthusiasm in every small mater and occasion. He was the one to drag us to such places and then repented taking us there as me and my sister insisted or rather cried over each and every thing we saw and eventually wanted. I loved the pink fluffy sugar candy's that would melt the moment taken inside the mouth. Well slowly as days passed i recall lesser and lesser number of Melas and i think they were genuinely being extinct.

Recently a new thing has come up. Health mela. Its a community health camp set by our government where doctors from various branches as well as various organisations are taken to a remote village where it has been already propagated that Doctors are coming for community service. I have been to several ( more than 10 ) of them in recent times.The concept is that all speciality doctors are brought to the door steps of the village people and free medicines are given.The medicines are mostly government made and frankly worthless. Most of them are placebos. Well, two types of patients come there.... one who were passing by and stopped for some free medicines and another group who wanted a magic medicine to be strong. The later group will come with the complaint of generalised weakness and pain all over the body. When few of the patient come with such problems i would like to think for a cause but when half of the patients come with the same problem its mass hysteria. Hardly any genuine patients come. Its always mass de-wormiong of the children and iron folic acid for the females of menstrual age group. Fungal infections in the skin are treated with ointments.

So much for health mela........ free food for the doctors and organisers, speech and those filmy promises of "neta logs" , and aspiring "party workers" to voo for votes. Petrol for the cars to bring the health force...... Big drama to give sugar coated bullshit to buy the trust or VOTE BANK of innocent and illiterate common rural man.

These health melas are government propaganda to show that they care, at the cost of cheap or at times wrong health care. Unjust use of antibiotics are and going to prove detrimental to the society in the near future. Mass concept about vitamins and iron tablets are going to make its abuse more and more in near future. People will prefer to visit a doctor who gives unjust and many medications and not those who will give precise and few medications...

As a part of my duty i have to go and pretend to be a part of this huge propaganda. I fear its consequences..... I am just a voice in the ocean of a big social misuse of our tax money to no benefit at all. All i can do is blog, its kind of a confession to a father in a church.