Statement and Appeal from the International Ambedkarite Doctors Federation (IADF) on Corona Virus Outbreak
Our country is going through a medical crisis unknown before. The Coronavirus pandemic affected people all over the world and it is still challenging the people, medical fraternity, and Government.
IADF is an organisation of doctors who believe in the compassionate philosophy and mission of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar beloved by his followers as the very embodiment of compassion, the Bodhisattva.
We stand in his footsteps today as a collective of doctors from all over India and appeal:
To the government:
1. In this time, medical preparedness is very critical. The testing kits must be available to all those who need it irrespective of their social and economic backgrounds.
2. To cater to the medical needs of the poor and disadvantaged, the infrastructure that will cater to them must be set up.
3. The distinction between private and public health care must be removed until the crisis is over. All the medical facilities wherever possible must be thrown open to all.
4. Kindly guarantee food and essential commodity supply to the poor and disadvantaged who will be affected by the lockdown.
5. Declare Covid -19 relief package under which Rs 3000/- should be immediately transferred under DBT to the BPL.
6. Provide community water taps immediately to practice cleanliness against the virus where there is no access to running water or freely distribute alcohol-based sanitizers especially in the slums.
To Ambedkarite Doctors:
1. Please make available your services and hospitals for those who are in critical needs.
2. Form regional or local consultative teams to act in a collective way to save the lives of the people
3. Please remove fear and panic among the masses through appeals via social media and medical consultation
4. Your life is precious, please look after yourself
To Ambedkarite communities:
1. Please follow the government guidelines of lockdown. Stay at Home.
2. Please do not expose elderly people to outside contacts.
3. If the need be, open the community centres, Buddha Vihar, and churches to people who have nowhere to go
4. Please help those in need with essential commodities. Share, care, and bear.
To serve humanity is to serve the cause of Ambedkarism.
Signatories –
1. Dr. P. Kuganantham (Tamil Nadu), President
2. Dr. Rajendra Jatolia (Rajasthan), Chairman
3. Dr. GG Rajvardhnan (Tamilnadu), Secretary general
4. Dr. Shankar Khobragade (Maharashtra), Vice President
5. Dr. Sonika Bodhi (Chattisgarh), Vice Chairman
6. Dr. Jas Simran Kehal (Punjab), Vice Chairman
7. Dr. Satish Shambharkar (Maharashtra), Treasurer
8. Dr. Taraka Prasad (Andhra Pradesh)
9. Dr. Chandrakumar (Karnataka)
10. Dr. Rajkumar Sisodia (MP)
11. Dr.Mohan Lal Bairwa (New Delhi)
12. Dr Gulshan Prakash (Haryana)
I admire the Statement and Appeal issued by the International Ambedkarite Doctors Federation (IADF) on Corona Virus Outbreak which has appeared in public domain in the nick of time.
India had the misfortune to be visited a century ago by bubonic plague which struck Bombay in 1896 from Manchuria and then quickly travelled to Poona. And then the black death engulfed, with few exceptions, like wild fire almost the whole country. The consequences were severe beyond imagination—no specific data on deaths are available. The authorities invariably indicated that all plague deaths were not reported.
I feel some 5 crores, i. e., almost 10% of Indians were carried off by plague. [This was what Bihar suffered]
The Plague Commissioner of Poona, Charles Rand, a young ICS officer and Lt. Col. Ayerst were brutally murdered by some misguided youths who included Damodar Chaupekar & Bal Krishna Chaupekar— were eulogized as martyrs of India’s freedom struggle. Such attitude to the murderers had its grave consequences in the tolls that plague all over the country.
In his first report published in 1900 Charles Rand mentions: “The (Hindu Plague) Hospital was opened to all except members of low castes. [………] Of 159 patients admitted, 98 were Brahmins and 59 belonged to other castes.”
Under Government encouragement Parsi Plague Hospital, Mohammadan Plague Hospital were established in Poona. But the Hindu Hospital had deplorable rule for admission Rand recorded.
History must not repeat itself by discrimination a century later in 3rd millennium.