Saving the Health Service
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), created in the aftermath of the Second World War was the greatest achievement of the Labour government of Clement Atlee. It provided free healthcare at the point of provision to the entire population and was (and is) recognized across the political divide as one of the nation’s crown jewels. Britons took pride in the quality of service it provided. The astronomer Stephen Hawking says he would not have survived without it; that the NHS embodies a ‘humane, civilized system.’ His words were endorsed more fully by Dr Kailash Chand, Honorary Vice President of the British Medical Association, who is eloquent in its defence. ‘This is a unique system, whatever its flaws. Universal healthcare, free at the at the point of provision, is a fundamental human right and the UK is perhaps the only country in the world that has truly tried to meet that requirement.’
Overcrowded hospitals, patients on trolleys waiting to be attended to are now a common sight in many British hospitals, from the 1970s, a slow erosion set in with the worship of the free market, perceived in the Thatcher years forces, as the ultimate determinant of good and bad. Class divisions grew, the gulf in the affordability of higher education narrowed and poor housing became a feature of social life, and the numbers of homeless people on the streets of the major citie multiplied.
There are inordinate delays before patients needing surgery can get the required treatment. This includes people with heart problems, hip and knee replacements etc. In desperation many British people (and Americans) are turning to places in the Third World for urgent surgery. Medical tourism, as it has come to be known, is a package arrangement of surgery and aftercare which often includes a fortnight’s rest and recuperation at a beach resort.
Patients contact private hospitals skilled and easily affordable for the average British or American pocket. Patients contact well known hospitals in, say, Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore for their needs and the vast majority appear well satisfied with the experience - which explains the growing numbers opting for this route for their medical needs.
Ghani takes a giant step for peace Saving the Health Service
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), created in the aftermath of the Second World War was the greatest achievement of the Labour government of Clement Atlee. It provided free healthcare at the point of provision to the entire population and was (and is) recognized across the political divide as one of the nation’s crown jewels. Britons took pride in the quality of service it provided. The astronomer Stephen Hawking says he would not have survived without it; that the NHS embodies a ‘humane, civilized system.’ His words were endorsed more fully by Dr Kailash Chand, Honorary Vice President of the British Medical Association, who is eloquent in its defence. ‘This is a unique system, whatever its flaws. Universal healthcare, free at the at the point of provision, is a fundamental human right and the UK is perhaps the only country in the world that has truly tried to meet that requirement.’
Overcrowded hospitals, patients on trolleys waiting to be attended to are now a common sight in many British hospitals, from the 1970s, a slow erosion set in with the worship of the free market, perceived in the Thatcher years forces, as the ultimate determinant of good and bad. Class divisions grew, the gulf in the affordability of higher education narrowed and poor housing became a feature of social life, and the numbers of homeless people on the streets of the major citie multiplied.
There are inordinate delays before patients needing surgery can get the required treatment. This includes people with heart problems, hip and knee replacements etc. In desperation many British people (and Americans) are turning to places in the Third World for urgent surgery. Medical tourism, as it has come to be known, is a package arrangement of surgery and aftercare which often includes a fortnight’s rest and recuperation at a beach resort. Patients contact private hospitals skilled and easily affordable for the average British or American pocket. Patients contact well known hospitals in, say, Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore for their needs and the vast majority appear well satisfied with the experience - which explains the growing numbers opting for this route for their medical needs.
Trudeau in India: Bang to whimper
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is young charismatic and engaging – shades of his late father Pierre. The Liberal Party landslide brought him to office, with great popular expectations of change following years of perceived lacklustre Conservative Party government. However, Trudeau’s radical chic performances at home have started raising eyebrows about the substance he brings to the table and less to the glamorous image. For instance, asked recently by a voice in a domestic audience, why Islamic State jihadis were welcomed back to Canada, his reply likened their cases to immigrants from Europe fleeing Hitler’s Nazi oppression – a comparison that was both obtuse and needlessly offensive.
These events were little known abroad, especially in India, where the media’s international pages are largely restricted to the pantomime of American politics, including alleged Russian meddling in the US 2016 presidential election, and of sowing racial discord in the US. Perhaps the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan is a Russian export.
Trudeau’s arrival in India was awaited keen anticipation. The visit turned sour soon enough. ‘So what went wrong?’ asks Candice Malcom, a Canadian reporter covering the trip. ‘In a word, narcissism – paired with superficiality and poor judgement. The Canadian Prime Minister’s success to date can be traced to his talents as a performing artist than to an understanding of statecraft, economics, or diplomacy. When posing in a costume, he is at his best. But without a scripted narrative to follow, he lacks the depth and the sophistication to grasp when the show has gone on too long.’ Trudeau’s entourage included Jaspal Atwal a convicted assassin and former Sikh terrorist, once a member of the International Sikh Youth Federation now banned in Canada. In 1987, Atwal attempted to murder a visiting Punjab Cabinet Minister Malkiat Singh on Vancouver Island.
Confusion was worse confounded by absurd denials of Mr Trudeau’s ties with Atwal; photographs of them together proved otherwise. Mr Trudeau’s visit was reduced to a family vacation wit its album of Daddy, Mummy and the bkids in exotic Indian garments. Mr Prudeaus’s security advisor has suggested that Atwal was given a visa by rogue elements in the India’s Ministry of External Affairs in a bid to derail the Indo-Canadian relations.hip - which has caused outrage in the ministry. Derailment has occurred. It is the wreckage we see before us. It will take time for Humpty Dumpty to be put together again.
The Canadian Liberal party subordinated the country’s national interest to the politics of vote banks and will pay a high price for such indulgence. This, it would appear, is deep-seated malaise. One recalls the bombing of an Air India flight in June 1985 from Canada to India that exploded in midair off the coast of Ireland in Cork county killing all 329 passengers and crew. No arrests have been made. The bombers received instructions from former CIA operatives. A US Congressman defended their action on the plea of free enterprise! Republican US Republican Congressman Dan Burton was a lifelong Khalistani supporter; and the Khalistani and jihadi presence in the UK was once generously accommodating until things started to get out control, with jihadi terror groups menacing British society with bomb, bullet and vehicular battering rams.
Supporting good terrorists against perceived bad ones has long been an idiom of American statecraft in the Middle East and beyond. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is conducting a global crusade in every Western capital he visits against this cynical and dangerous game.. Dissembling American leaders have much to answer for. US certified jihadis bore (and bear) the stamp of respectability even as US policy in Middle Eastern trouble-spots unravel. Old habits die hard.
