A very sad. Heartbreaking incident repeated
A jawan’s wife Lipi Gand has lost her eye due to extreme medical negligence.
This incident has not only brought grief to a family, but also a sad picture of our health system
It has exposed the indifference of society and the government towards the families of jawans who risk their lives for the country.
Lipi Gand had been struggling for treatment for 13 long days. The way she was neglected during this time is difficult to describe. Failure to provide proper treatment to a woman who was fighting for her life is not only medical negligence, it is also an insult to humanity. In the last two days, when pressure arose from different quarters, the administration and hospital authorities woke up. It is true that some good treatment was arranged, but by then it was too late. As the saying goes, “The needle had already taken the needle”. A precious life has been lost, which could have been saved with timely treatment.
At this time of grief, her husband, Jawan Deoraj Gand, is thousands of kilometers away from home, on the snowy frontier of remote Arunachal Pradesh, serving his country. The news of his wife’s death is like a thunderbolt for him. Now, suppressing his grief, he will first approach his superior officer, as per the rules. There, forgetting all emotions, he will give a long, broad salute as part of his duty, and apply for leave to express his personal grief.
If the leave is granted, then another big challenge awaits him – a long and arduous journey of 2,300 kilometers. It is difficult to say how long it will take to reach his village, descending from the rugged mountainous terrain to the plains, through various modes of transport. It is a cruel reality that this soldier who sacrificed his happiness and freedom for the country may not even have the opportunity to see his beloved wife for the last time. He may not even get the right to bid his wife a final farewell.
Here the question naturally arises in the mind – if Devaraj Gand had not been an ordinary soldier but had been the son of a big politician, Chief Minister, Cabinet Minister or Union Minister, would the situation have been the same? Certainly not. Perhaps a colorful helicopter or chartered plane at government expense would have been waiting in the field near his house, which would have taken him home within a few hours. But he is an ordinary soldier. The security of the country is his identity. His personal sorrow, the pain of his family, the value of his emotions is probably nothing to this government and administration. The soldier who fights with the enemy on the border is losing his battle with the system at home.
There is a lot to say. A lot can be said about the cruelty of this system, this society, this government apparatus. But those who are supposed to listen, are sitting with their ears closed. What is the use of trying to make the deaf hear? This sad incident is a warning to all of us. It forces us to think about the kind of society we live in, where a soldier’s wife dies without treatment and the soldier is not even able to come to bid his wife a last farewell.