Page 34 - English Tehelka Issue 6 - March 31, 2018

q&a interview

Sidharth nath Singh on February 7. There is a logic and system. In case
health minister of Uttar Pradesh this is violated anywhere we ensure
Did your health department do a dialogue. Our party respects the
‘Monitoring & accountability anything to inform the correct medical fraternity’s role in creating
facts to the media?
a healthy state. In less then a year we
have appointed 1,000 doctors.
Of course we did. We tried to tell
to govern UP Health Policy’ them that medically this is not What are your plans to make
possible, but majority of them
Uttar Pradesh more healthy?
ignored these facts and kept on
their sensationalizing spree . Uttar Pradesh is poised to have a
Honestly speaking, both Gorakhpur comprehensive Health Policy soon.
Being grandSon of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shashtri, Sidharth nath and Unnao incidents were highly It will be based on monitoring and
Singh, health minister of the most populous state of India, Uttar Pradesh, has a mishandled by the media. The Press accountability and will deal with
political lineage that one can be proud of. He chose the saffron brigade over the highly misreported. They refused everything that concerns the health
Congress and describes himself as being Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Experiment to report facts and only created a of people of the state. Like I said be-
Boy’, that says a lot about his political acumen. A politician who occupies one of the scare. Unnao is a high risk district fore the corrective measures have
top slots in Uttar Pradesh cabinet, Singh also wears another cap of being one of and that is why screening camps been enforced and now we will work
BJP’s official spokespersons in the state. In an exclusive interview kulsum mustafa are held here. UPSACS data says that towards creation of a foolproof sys-
discusses with him his party’s work in the health sector in its first year of governance. HIV prevalence in 2017-2018 is 0.39 tem. Monitoring and accountability
per cent. The state average is 0.22 will be the twin words that will gov-
edited excerPts from an interview • while India’s HIV prevalence is 0.28 ern the medical system in the state
and will have to be strictly followed.
After we came to power, the first and
How does it feel to be disturbed us immensely. Our Chief vital issue was to establish a trans-
responsible for the health of 200 Minister Yogi Adityanath ji is unhappy ‘HIV testing is parent and proactive transfer and
million inhabitants of the most with the state of affairs in the medical voluntary and we posting policy. The immediate step
populous state of India ? sector. He is deeply concerned and was to create a Chief Medical Of-
I confess it is no easy task, especially committed to improving the health cannot force anyone ficer (CMO) selection panel. The next
when you are burdened with the in- parameters of the people of Uttar to get tested’ step was to create a proper purchase
ept handling of the medical policies of Pradesh. We are prepared to work department. Last and the least was
the previous government. But on the with greater force and urgency and to have a relook at the Human Re-
flip side it provides my government a are commitment to set things right source .
full chance of improving the system, at the earliest. I am confident UP will per cent. HIV testing is voluntary
revamping it to the core. Our govern- climb up the ladder of ratings soon. and we cannot force anyone to get You have labeled yourself as the
ment has spent the first few months in tested. You must not forget that these ‘Experiment Boy’ of PM Modi.
just clearing the mess left by the pre- After just a few months in power, camps where these infected persons Please elaborate.
vious government. This includes han- your ministry faced a lot of flak were detected were organized by the The constituency I represent,
dling shortage of doctors, medicines because 61 infants died in three government. Allahabad West, was galore with
and a collapsed purchase depart- days at the state-run Gorakhpur caste and communal politics.
ment. We focused initially on setting Medical College allegedly due Why would the entire media Being chosen to represent this
the house in order. It is only now that to non-availability of oxygen in report in a set manner? constituency was a big challenge.
we are able to think of doing things. the ICU. Chiefly because sensitization is I felt I had been chosen as an
To put it simply, we started with cor- It was a human tragedy and it affected What do you have to say on reports light, is just 60 seconds. Therefore, it more appealing. It gets you more ‘experiment boy’ by Modi ji. My
rection and are now are focused on me deeply. I felt for the families who of a quack infecting 58 persons is not possible that the quack could TRPs, more readership, it increases victory would not be just of an
creating. lost their little ones. I faced one of with the deadly HIV virus allegedly have infected such a large number popularity of your brand. That is why individual but one where the voters
the most heart-wrenching situations through a contaminated syringe by the use of a single contaminated despite our efforts the media chose have voted for a change. By voting
Uttar Pradesh has been rated the which shook me to the core. But it was in Bangarmau town of in Unnao syringe. However, stray infections to bypass facts and underplayed the me to power the people have proved
lowest on the health index by the a situation when the inhuman face of district.? are possible. Moreover, Unnao has a correct medical versions given by that they need a change, they needed
Niti Aayog. Your take on this. the Opposition became more visible. Again, the incident was highly misre- large migrant population and high- the government simply because it a breath of fresh air and want the
The evaluation report pertains to 2016 Their attempt to politicize the entire ported by the media which just blew risk behaviour such as unprotected did not make news. dirt to be replaced with clean, honest
and our government came to power thing made me angry. This act was things out of proportion. Sanjeeva sex are the main causes for the politics. My victory has diluted the
in March 2017. So it is clear that the not only unforgiveable but also highly Kumar, director general, National high number of HIV cases reported Your take on doctors’ transfers, politics of caste and communal
poor performance does not pertain to shameful. The media is also to blame AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), from Unnao. This is the conclusion lack of specialists. factors.
our period of governance. However, for playing along with the Opposition has clearly stated that the life of of the NACO report by the fact- We created a proper transfer and
I add that the report findings have and not doing factual reporting. HIV virus, when exposed to sun - finding team that visited the district posting policy which is pro-active. letters@tehelka.com

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