It looks like the incumbent government of Delhi-NCR is ready to do anything but deliver on governance. In their latest diktat, the Delhi government has asked the doctors to dance with the patients, under the new ‘happiness therapy’, that will ‘uplift the mood of the patients’.
The AAP government even gave a demonstration of the same at GTB hospital, where Health Minister Satyendra Jain danced with a newborn infant on a Falguni Pathak song. This initiative is inspired by from the Brazilian therapy of using music and dance in hospitals.
To quote his statement to the press, Satyendra said, “Doctor, paramedical staff and patients can dance together for half an hour a day. Right now these initiatives have started in the same ward of GTB, but Delhi government wants to start it in other hospitals soon. This is a commendable step. It is extremely necessary to maintain the lost faith towards doctors with the rumours and attacks happening in the hospitals of Delhi.”
Isn’t it a nice move? On the face of it, it looks like the Delhi government has taken an innovative step to improve the health of the people in Delhi NCR. However, there’s more to it than what meets the eye. Not only is this order absurd, but it is also dictatorial in nature. According to the doctors of the GTB Hospital, neither were they informed of this step, nor were they consulted.
Moreover, the doctors are not against the ‘happiness therapy’ step as much as they despise the hypocrisy of the current government. To quote the president of Resident Doctors’ Association at GTB Hospital, Dr. Anand Chopra, “With lesser resources and extra working hours, dancing with the patients was not possible. Firstly, we receive patients from all the areas in East Delhi, including notorious slums, and if our female residents dance, they will have a sense of insecurity which might affect their work. Secondly, we have long patient queues, adding dance to our routine is not possible. I say this on behalf of all resident doctors that we refuse to dance in the wards.”
Dr. Chopra is not far from the truth. If one checks the status of Delhi NCR’s healthcare under the tenure of the Kejriwal led AAP government, it has only nosedived. Be it the apathy shown to people dying by dengue in 2015-16, or ignoring the menace caused by stubble burning for the past 3 years, leading to unwanted smog, AAP government has shown no concern for healthcare.
Even their Mohalla clinics are existing only on paper. As such, the ‘happiness therapy’ is more of an eyewash, than a genuine effort to lessen the burden of the doctors, who are already suffering under the maladministration of the incumbent government of the Delhi-NCR region. Recently, the Delhi High Court had struck down an arbitrary order issued by the same government, which forced the doctors to prefer the residents of Delhi first in any medical treatment. As such, bizarre diktats, though atrocious, are not new for this incumbent government.
As the CM is paranoid about the return of Modi as PM in 2019, and their ministers are indulging in absurd actions that are making the life for the Delhiites tougher, it is time that the incumbent AAP government introspects on their decisions and does what they were elected for. If they don’t realize it soon, the time might come when the fledgling political outfit might face a drubbing much worse than what SP suffered in 2017 in UP, and only they shall be responsible for it, none else.