Editor,
On 4th February 2013 (around noon I brought my uncle, a resident of Jowai and a cancer patient, to Shillong Civil Hospital as he complained of severe pain. Having done his chemotherapy before in the hospital with Dr. Mawlong I immediately took him to her chamber only to be informed that she was on maternity leave. However I was directed to Dr. Syiemlieh. After a long wait for our turn, it came to me as a shock when Dr. Syiemlieh refused to attend to my uncle on the plea that he was not her patient but a patient of Dr. Mawlong. I understand that my uncle was not her patient but I fail to see why he should he be denied any medical assistance from another doctor while his doctor is on leave? If Dr. Syiemlieh is of the impression that she should not interfere and intrude into her colleague’s patients. Fair enough. However, is that medical ethics? She should understand that her colleague is on leave and there is no way by which she should refuse to attend to any patients other than hers. Her refusal could have led to an untoward situation or even death. Should she be taking such a risk? Thankfully, my uncle was later admitted in Bethany Hospital and was under proper care and supervision of the doctors there.
What irks me to this day is the ruthlessness of the doctor. How could one human being be so insensitive and callous towards another suffering human being? What is even more disgusting is for a doctor to behave in such a way. Perhaps Dr. Syiemlieh has forgotten the oath she had taken at the time she was conferred the medical degree. No doctor should refuse to attend to any patient whether rich or poor. Once they have taken the profession of a life saver every doctor must understand that they have a great responsibility towards the sick. To simply close their doors on a sick patient is a terrible act on the part of Dr. Syiemlieh. If she being a doctor refuses to provide medical help to us people then what are we to do? It made me wonder at the plight of fellow patients and their attendants especially those coming from far flung villages with usually less and sometimes no money in hand at all? Would Dr. Syiemlieh refuse to attend to a bureaucrat, or minister or a rich businessman simply because he/she is not her patient?
Yours etc.,
Name withheld on request
Give the youth a break!
Editor,
Apropos the news paper report “Refrain from performing concerts at Khyndailad” and letter to the editor in your paper, “Youth and Elections”, both dated 18 February 2013, KLKHS the organisation that voiced their concerns and Jenniefer Dkhar, the writer of the letter got it half-right. As members of the music band Summersalt, who were part of this awareness programme and many social development events in the past we feel that this clarification is needed.
While, to an extent, we agree on the traffic concerns raised, we do not think it is insurmountable. We dispute the sweeping statement that music concerts are opportunities for youths to indulge themselves in intoxication. Summersalt’s songs are mostly based on responsible lifestyle and the band’s lyrics are intended to counter attack social ills. Plus, we’ve been in the fray long enough not to think that one gig in Khyndailad/ Police Bazar is an opportunity for us to display our talents. The ethos of our Khasi and English original music is all, but socially purposeful and beyond. Therefore, if there is some element of truth to the sweeping statement, the responsible Artiste Community in the form of Summersalt, is in the right place to change and positively influence the youth. This organization should also know that band members do not indulge in intoxication of any kind while working and we invite KLKHS to be part of our events to scrutinize that.
As to what happened on the 14 Feb Election Awareness Event – we still think that the Deputy Commissioner and his office in their wisdom had courageously taken responsible risks to have given the permission to the Election Commission. Khyndailad/ Police Bazar is a young people’s hub – a great spot for a road show. Does that reflect that the Election Commission is now people and youth friendly and has moved with the times? Yes.
On Dkhar’s mention about the beer bottles, people should know – events or no events you will always find marginalised children collecting all kinds of bottles from Police Bazar. The mandate of the Election Commission (as we understand) and the conscientious message of Summersalt are to spread awareness to both people who drink and who do not drink. And we say this, not because we endorse irresponsible drinking – but because we believe that the social messages of our music is relevant to the larger audience of all ages.
Dkhar also wondered, if the message around the importance of voting did reach the young audience. We have reasons to believe, it has. Summersalt is also of the opinion, that there has to be a 360 degree perspective to evaluate this impact or else, one ends up to judge a book by looking at its cover. The 14 Feb awareness event was one of the many edifying initiatives of the EC – that’s for all to see and it is just fair to evaluate the entire project and not one piece of it. The way we see it and the writings on the wall speak volumes of its efforts and to quantify it now would be unfair. Let’s wait till the 23Feb.
Summersalt, as the default representative of the Artiste Community would like to appeal to people to think and critique wisely in the future. Of course, we trust the wisdom of our administrative heads – whether it is the DC, the Police or the Chief Secretary to weigh things based on holistic approaches as they give away venue permissions.
Yours etc
Kit Shangpliang,
For Summersalt
SOS no water!
Editor,
We are a private limited company operating from Software Technology Parks of India located at Lawmali near the meter factory. The water supply from PHE pump nearby to our office has been very inconsistent, we have had no water supply for more than 4 months in the end of 2012 and now again there has been no water supply for around 2 months and we are not sure when this problem will be fixed. There are nearly 100 people working in this office and it is a challenge for us to function smoothly without water. We have been following up with PHE department every now and again but this is not helping.Some of the staff are getting sick because of the lack of water and this is really affecting our work.
We request the PHE department and the person concerned to please look into this matter and try to fix this urgently.
Yours etc.,
Teddy Kharpuri,
Via email