Letters to the Editor: Closing time of primary health centres

The mini primary health centres of village areas in Assam are closed at 1.30 pm everyday. These public health centres represent the only available medical services in rural areas. Do patients not arrive at these rural hospitals after 1.30 pm? Doctors are not seen after 1.30 pm in many mini primary health centres located in village areas. If a patient arrives at such health centres for treatment in the evening, then that patient has no option other than returning home depressed. Therefore, the question arises as to whether the daily working hours of the medical personnel deployed in rural areas of the state are only till 1.30 pm? It is often difficult to get a doctor after 1.30 pm in case of sudden accidents in rural areas. This is because doctors do not stay in government residences adjacent to health centres. Instead, they stay in rented houses which are located quite far from their work place. It remains to be seen what action the Chief Minister and the Health Minister will take to overcome this problem in rural areas.

Jatin Borah,

Golaghat.

The right beginning

Unlike USA and UK, India believes in multi-party democracy. Accordingly, we have BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party, TMC, AIADMK, DMK to name a few. But unfortunately, most of them run on family lines. They sometimes sit in the Treasury bench and sometime in the Opposition bench. Maharashtra's recent political drama involving the Shiv Sena, a part of the MVA, is giving a new twist to the nation's multi-party system of democracy. Historically, Shiv Sena is a regional party of Maharashtra founded by Late Bal Thackeray, a firm believer of Hinduvta ideology. It also followed the same dynasty politics like Congress, SP, RJD and few others. But for the first time under newly-emerged leader Eknath Shinde, the Shiv Sena has been able to break the shackles of family rule and grab power of Maharashtra with their long time political pal BJP. Can we expect the very same trend to creep into other political parties suffering from dynasty politics or family rule in near future? Only time will tell. Anyway, it is a right beginning to end dynasty rule in the nation's politics as dynasty rule and minority appeasement have become the bane of the nation's politics.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Exceptional rescuers

All prayers for pilgrims to the Amarnath shrine who may be stranded due to the cloudburst there. This pilgrimage is a strenuous one and given the scope of natural calamities, the State and Central governments and shrine board have made a lot of changes in the original way of holding the pilgrimage and also set up facilities for the journey. All these facilities like hospitals at the base camps have come handy in minimizing the casualties and also in helping the injured in time. Flash floods due to cloudburst are very common in hilly areas and can't be forecast. Even though the trip has been put on hold and the casualties are still being determined, one can understand the difficulty the pilgrims' families are having since cellular phone networks don't operate in such wilderness and inaccessible locations. While the loss of lives, which is still being calculated, breaks our hearts, we cannot ignore the efforts made by the security forces, to save lives and move the elderly and injured to higher ground for safety. Along with saving lives, the State and national disaster rescue forces' prompt action gave the pilgrims more assurance and are genuinely appreciable. The injured are being transported by helicopter to the base hospitals. Following the relentless torrential rain two and half decades back that claimed the lives of several pilgrims, the most recent plans for rescue in an emergency have improved a lot.

To prevent crowding at the rest stops along the way, the number of pilgrims moving from base camps to the cave is likewise staggered. Overall, rescuers are doing their best to save pilgrims from natural calamities.

Vijaykumar HK,

Raichur.