Chennai Meeting of Health Activists
The meeting in Chennai will be the first in a series of similar meetings in different parts of the country, including Delhi, Calcutta and Mumbai.
Objectives:
a) To initiate and consolidate public health related activities within Left and progressive movements
b) To set the stage for the creation of a new platform for health activists from Left and other progressive movements.
Rationale:
a) Make public health a priority issue within Left and progressive movements
b) To bring synergy between the efforts of various groups in India trying to address various public health problems ranging from poverty and malnutrition to privatisation of healthcare and commercialization of medical education.
Participants:
Representatives of various Left political organizations
Progressive citizens groups working on public health issues
Individual public health activists
Agenda:
Discussion on critical role of public health issues in radical political movements
Lessons related to public health learnt from history of revolutionary movements
Common minimum program for taking the public health movement forward
Organisational aspects of new All India platform for health activists.
Background Papers
State of India’s health care system
Indian pharmaceutical industry and patents
Capitalist healthcare systems and struggles for healthcare
Successful healthcare models such as Cuba and Venezuelan healthcare under Bolivarian revolution
Reviving and building traditions of mutual help and solidarity for public health work in India
Role of health related activities within revolutionary movements
Going beyond the binary of ‘Modern vs Traditional’ medicine
Programme:
Presentation on ‘State of India’s health care system’ (20 mins)
Presentation on ‘Indian pharmaceutical industry and patents’ (20 mins)
Presentation on ‘Capitalist healthcare systems and struggles for healthcare’ (15 mins)
Presentation on ‘Successful healthcare models such as Cuba and Venezuelan healthcare under Bolivarian revolution’ (15 mins)
Presentation on ‘Health is Politics and Politics is Health - Need for a new platform of groups working on public health issues’ (20 mins)
Discussion on ‘What is to be done?’ (1 hour)
Break (1 hour)
Video of Bant Singh case and update of his situation (20 mins)
Drafting of list of demands and objectives (1 hour)
Organisational steps forward: (2 hrs)
- Name for new platform
- Priniciples of cooperation
- Website, other means of communication among members
- Practical ideas for activities that can be taken up soon
- Planning for meetings in Delhi, Calcutta and Mumbai
Contact: doctors_for_people@yahoo.co.in
Objectives:
a) To initiate and consolidate public health related activities within Left and progressive movements
b) To set the stage for the creation of a new platform for health activists from Left and other progressive movements.
Rationale:
a) Make public health a priority issue within Left and progressive movements
b) To bring synergy between the efforts of various groups in India trying to address various public health problems ranging from poverty and malnutrition to privatisation of healthcare and commercialization of medical education.
Participants:
Representatives of various Left political organizations
Progressive citizens groups working on public health issues
Individual public health activists
Agenda:
Discussion on critical role of public health issues in radical political movements
Lessons related to public health learnt from history of revolutionary movements
Common minimum program for taking the public health movement forward
Organisational aspects of new All India platform for health activists.
Background Papers
State of India’s health care system
Indian pharmaceutical industry and patents
Capitalist healthcare systems and struggles for healthcare
Successful healthcare models such as Cuba and Venezuelan healthcare under Bolivarian revolution
Reviving and building traditions of mutual help and solidarity for public health work in India
Role of health related activities within revolutionary movements
Going beyond the binary of ‘Modern vs Traditional’ medicine
Programme:
Presentation on ‘State of India’s health care system’ (20 mins)
Presentation on ‘Indian pharmaceutical industry and patents’ (20 mins)
Presentation on ‘Capitalist healthcare systems and struggles for healthcare’ (15 mins)
Presentation on ‘Successful healthcare models such as Cuba and Venezuelan healthcare under Bolivarian revolution’ (15 mins)
Presentation on ‘Health is Politics and Politics is Health - Need for a new platform of groups working on public health issues’ (20 mins)
Discussion on ‘What is to be done?’ (1 hour)
Break (1 hour)
Video of Bant Singh case and update of his situation (20 mins)
Drafting of list of demands and objectives (1 hour)
Organisational steps forward: (2 hrs)
- Name for new platform
- Priniciples of cooperation
- Website, other means of communication among members
- Practical ideas for activities that can be taken up soon
- Planning for meetings in Delhi, Calcutta and Mumbai
Contact: doctors_for_people@yahoo.co.in
posted by Satya at 11:49 AM
6 Comments:
It is true that there are many outside the fold of the laftists who do greater and sincere work among the people. The only reason we used the term is to differentiate us from the 'rightists'the rabid RSS fellows who also do grassroot work inthe health front.We know of several non leftists and we extend our sincere welcome to all of them to attend this meet.
Dear friends,
The planned meeting at Chennai is a welcome development. The serious weakening of the Public health system and proliferation of unregulated, often irrational and exploitative private medical sector make it important that all those serious about people's interests should take up Public health as an important issue.
However, adding to what Manodeep has said, there are already some existing initiatives which have been taking up the cause of people's health, although whether to call them 'Left' or progressive would depend on one's viewpoint. It will be good if the meeting at Chennai and the further efforts would recognise existing initiatives such as Medico Friends Circle and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, and perhaps seek to complement these rather than 'reinventing the wheel'. Given that a purpose of the meet is "To bring synergy between the efforts of various groups in India trying to address various public health problems..." it would make sense to analyse and interact with existing broad national platforms as the first step. Given the larger challenge of globalisation-privatisation as it continues to impact on the health sector, I sincerely hope that the energies of various groups will be synergised and will interact with each other in this process, rather than creating parallel forums which may have the same basic purpose.
Dear Manodeep and Abhay
Thanks to both of you for your comments. We can agree that our emphasis on 'Left and Progressive' people or groups can sound a bit narrow in approach. However the reasons for coming up with this formulation were as follows:
a) We believe that while the left perspective of society, economy and politics is not perfect it is a more productive way of understanding the world and offers a better vision of the future than other competing worldviews.
b) We thought it would be better to make our own perspectives very clear from the start and yet remain open to new ideas and different ways of approaching the problems of public health.
c) It is our understanding that left organisations in India have contributed enormously to improving the overall social and economic conditions of people through their various struggles but have not emphasised enough on the importance of public health. The current initiative is meant to correct this imbalance to some extent within the Left movement and is an admission of our own lacunae.
d) We have not chosen to define 'left and progressive' in detail because to do so would be truly sectarian as there is considerable diversity of opinion within this section of Indian politics that cannot be conflated into a few simple sentences. Leaving the definitions open provides an opportunity for us to bring together a wider section of people into the movement.
On the question of our initiative possibly 'reinventing the wheel' we would like to clarify that:
a) This is not an attempt to form a platform that will duplicate any work done by other organisations with a similar perspective. There will be a sincere effort to work together based on commonality of principles and mutual respect.
Whatever work is undertaken by this platform will be based on an acknowledgement of work already done by all other groups and agencies in the field of public health.
b) The problems of public health in India are so large that the country can do with more than one 'wheel' surely and maybe we can both 'compete' positively some times and cooperate productively at other times.
The Chennai meeting on 24th December is only a very small step towards building this new platform. This will be followed by consultations as well as practical work in other cities, towns and villages around the country and only when we start making any difference to the ground realities of public health in India that we will consider ourselves 'born'. Till then the 'platform' will only remain an exaggerated description of a loose network of people with shared ideas and willingness to work together to achieve adequate healthcare for the Indian people.
We sincerely hope you will join us in whichever way you think appropriate in working towards this common goal.
Hello Manodeep
Thanks for your insightful comments. I will be attending the meeting in Chennai. Universal health care as a human right should unite people across ideological or political divisions. Health care as a right should be placed in the context of other just demands such as employment, housing/education etc. I agree that we should not be emphasizing too much on the terms 'right' or 'left' causing more divisions. Not to mention the 'left' all over the world on many occasions have facilitated the rule of the 'right' to the detriment of human beings.
Hello Manodeep
Thanks for your insightful comments. I will be attending the meeting in Chennai. Universal health care as a human right should unite people across ideological or political divisions. Health care as a right should be placed in the context of other just demands such as employment, housing/education etc. I agree that we should not be emphasizing too much on the terms 'right' or 'left' causing more divisions. Not to mention the 'left' all over the world on many occasions have facilitated the rule of the 'right' to the detriment of human beings.
Hello Manodeep
Thanks for your insightful comments. I will be attending the meeting in Chennai. Universal health care as a human right should unite people across ideological or political divisions. Health care as a right should be placed in the context of other just demands such as employment, housing/education etc. I agree that we should not be emphasizing too much on the terms 'right' or 'left' causing more divisions. Not to mention the 'left' all over the world on many occasions have facilitated the rule of the 'right' to the detriment of human beings.
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