No painkiller for being under the rubble. April 3, 2008

A 22-year-old migrant labourer has not been given painkillers even though he has been terribly injured after a flat collapsed in Uttar Pradesh, India. “Hospital authorities say they prefer to give little medicine in such cases. ‘‘Unless he or she is bleeding, we try to treat injury patients without medicine,” says medical superintendent Ashok Bangotra.

I cannot even imagine the pain he is going through. I think that the doctors refuse to treat him well because he is a Dalit or someone from a lower caste. If a celebrity was injured, or maybe even someone from a middle-class family, the first thing the doctor would have done is to give the person a painkiller.

 However, Singh’s only gotten ivy. I think the doctors  probably assume that someone from the lower caste would not be able to pay his bill, so they do not want to give him any ’special treatment’. It is sad that our medical profession has also become a way of emphasizing one’s status and class.

Indian Soccer Captain Refuses the Olympic Torch April 3, 2008

Indian soccer captain, Baichang Bhutia, has refused to carry the olympic torch once it reaches New Delhi. Bhutia, a Buddhist said,”I sympathize with the Tibetan cause. I have many friends in Sikkim who follow Buddhism. This is my way of standing by the people of Tibet and their struggle. I abhor violence in any form.”

Bhutia along with a few others around the world have refused to carry the torch because they want to protest China’s occupation of Tibet. Tibet needs independence especially in this wave of democracy around the world.

Bhutia says that it is a personal decision and it is his way of showing solidarity to a cause he supports. More countries should support this cause. Olympics must go on, but if countries pressure China into giving up Tibet; Tibet might finally be independent.