The health sector is ignored by successive governments for reasons best known to them. It is the primary responsibility of any government to provide affordable and good medical facilities to all. However, in our country the medical field is the most neglected. One of the main reasons for this pathetic state of affairsis the lack of good hospitals for the poor , and the pathetic condition of government-run hospitals where patients are treated like animals. The medical profession in India has become a commercial business.
The government should give wholehearted support to hospitals such as Narayana Hrudayalaya, Aravind Eye Hospital and the work done by people like Dr Prakash Amte and Dr Mandakini Amte and Drs Rani and Abhay Bang in Maharashtra. The government should remove corrupt and unethical doctors from holding high positions. A decent amount should be allocated in the budget for research in medicine. No wonder there are nearly 3.5 lakh doctors of Indian origin settled in the US.
Veena Shenoy
Thane, Maharashtra
Bad to worse
This refers to the editorial, ‘Sizing it up’ (August 17). Given the overarching position of the SBI in the huge slippages cannot be written off as a one-time aberration. It is worth remembering that SBI’s assets form a tenth of the country’s GDP and loans are a fourth of the system’s loan portfolio. The gross NPAs of the bank mounted to 9.97 per cent by June end 2017 from 7.4 per cent in June end 2016 making the financial metrics vulnerable.
What is more perturbing is the structure of the NPAs. It is said that borrowers held back repayment in anticipation of farm loan waiver, aggravating the situation. The recovery proceedings also slackened as the bank was preoccupied with merger formalities. The lacklustre performance of SBI has also cast doubts over the soundness of bank consolidation. Now it is almost certain that SBI inherited a miserable portfolio of corporate loans. The merger and subsequent poor showing has impaired the wealth of minority shareholders. The bank can come out of this fiasco only through better governance practices and efficient recovery measures opened up by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.
Philip Sabu
Thrissur, Kerala
The merger of associate banks with SBI can’t reduce the magnitude of bad loans for the time being. However, going forward, SBI would be careful to conduct business in a prudent manner. There is always pressure from government, hence greasing continues. Basel III norms expect much deeper assessment from banks before they proffer loans. Secondly the banks are learning from their past misdeeds. With Basel III norms and constitution of the board the chances of going wrong appear to have been brought under control.
RK Arya
Faridabad, Haryana
Naive irresponsibility
‘Sarahah goes against the grain of honesty’ by Mala Bhargava (Technophile, August 17) is timely. There is already too much bitterness in society and anything that contributes to it further should be shunned. Besides, if usage leads to convey vices rather than virtues, it could be harmful rather than helpful. Simultaneously, there is much criticism of the popular game, the ‘Blue whale challenge’ which supposedly encourages suicide. We in India are prone to accepting any novel idea uncritically. This points to the need for state intervention even if it annoys the proponents of freedom of action.
YG Chouksey
Pune
The right tack
Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy speaks his mind when he advises those in the higher echelons to practice austerity to scale up growth. It is pertinent to mention here that some time back NRN had given a clarion call to senior functionaries in Infosys to scale down their own pay packets to help the young and newly appointed staff protect their jobs. In a materialistic society we seldom encounter such high thinking . Austerity is a good remedy for all sectors in general. Can we take it in our stride?
HP Murali
Bengaluru