This newspaper yesterday highlighted the tragic case of a family that did not provide medical care to a child suffering from the highly contagious disease measles, believing it had a ‘religious’ cause. Small wonder it tried to find a religious solution to the problem, without realising that it was aggravating the child’s condition. The good news is that the child has been responding to treatment and can be said to have crossed the Rubicon. But seven other children were not so lucky and died, allegedly of measles, in Greater Mumbai this year. According to a study in the U.S., India has recorded 9,489 cases of measles in the first six months of this fiscal year. In fact, India could very well be described as the world’s measles capital. The nearest claimants to the title are sub-Saharan Somalia with 8,435 cases and Yemen with 6,478.
In India, Greater Mumbai accounts for a large number of cases. Unless contained in time, it can become an epidemic. The reason why measles has returned as a major contagious disease is not far to seek. Like many other countries, India, too, had virtually eradicated the disease through a sustained national campaign. There is a two-stage vaccination programme that can conclusively prevent children from contracting this disease. Alas, the programme suffered a major setback during the Covid-19 period when the whole attention of the Government and the medical establishment turned to popularising anti-Covid vaccination. How far it succeeded in controlling Covid-19 is a matter of debate with no conclusive evidence either way. However, there is clear evidence that the slackening in the multiple vaccination programme that protects children has caused the spread of measles.
What the nation should learn from this is clear. There is no point in picking holes in the report and claiming that everything is hunky dory. Even if one infant dies of measles, it should be treated as a failure of the public health system. Diseases like smallpox, polio and measles can be prevented by inoculating children at a young age and over different periods of time. India has a very efficient and proven system in place to vaccinate all children. This needs to be reactivated in right earnest so that every child is given vaccination in time and without fail. Also, the health authorities at the Centre and in the states should ensure that every child suffering from measles is medically cared for.
V-Cs or sacrificial goats?
In the turf war between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, certain principles seem to have been overlooked. It is nobody’s contention that incompetent persons should be appointed vice-chancellors. It is the highest academic post that a university teacher can attain. Only the best qualified should get the position. Having said that, the Governor, who happens to be the Chancellor of all the state universities, has no right to ask all the V-Cs to resign just because in one case reported from another state, the Supreme Court nullified an appointment on the ground that the UGC guidelines were not followed. The Governor’s argument that the Kerala cases are identical is flawed.
It is common knowledge that the UGC changed the rules for university-level appointments to give the Chancellor a greater role. For instance, the Chancellor has to be given three names from which he will choose one. This was to ensure that the ruling dispensation could bring all universities under its control through the office of the Governor, who is just a nominee of the Centre. If the selection committee finds only one candidate eligible for the post, why should it supply three names? For the CPI-M ruling the state, the change in UGC rules was fine, for it gave greater weight to the interview which could be manipulated. Everything was fine as long as the Governor played ball with the Government. Now that they are fighting, the Governor wants the heads of all the V-Cs on a platter. In the case of some, it is not their fault that they were selected. The guilty ones are the Government and the Chancellor who appointed them. Why, then, should the V-Cs alone suffer? Are they just sacrificial goats?
