Recently I saw an advertisement in The New Indian Express from the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes [Recovery] Bangalore, making an appeal to the members of the public to give information about the real name, address and whereabouts of the person whose photograph was shown in advertisement. The advertisement also promised a reward for those who provide the information. The advertisement says that the person shown in the photograph, claiming himself to be D. Angamuttu, S/o Dhanapal, had obtained registration under Karnataka Tax on Lotteries Act 2003 in the name of Sri Lakshmi Agency and has cheated the Government tax of Rs. 831.71 lakhs. What kind of governance! The officers responsible for this should be punished with jail and sacked.

For sure this huge amount of tax due would not have accumulated just in a day, week or a month. Wonder how such a huge amount of tax dues, of sold out lottery tickets, can be allowed to be accumulated. It would not be possible without a venal nexus between the Tax Officers and the person to whom they are searching for now.

This is just one instance. Many such cases can be found all over the country causing tax loss amounting to thousands of crores of rupees to our country's exchequer.

In Karnataka, the biggest scam has always been in the Excise Department. There used to be heavy arrears of payments to the Government by these arrack contractors to the tune of crores of rupees while the IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) lobby would have a whale of a time selling seconds? The goods sold without paying excise duty. Successive Chief Ministers and Excise Ministers were found hand – in - glove with these Excise mafia. No wonder, Excise Minister's portfolio used to be and still is a most coveted one. In fact, in early years this liquor - mafia used to fund the political parties to fight elections. The greatest beneficiary used to be the arrack and excise contractors. The scandal used to be so sinister that these Excise Contractors were even advised to go to the Court of Law and get a stay by these Ministers while requesting the Public Prosecutor or the Advocate General not to pursue the case seriously.

I think the concerned Ministry or at least some NGOs should take up this kind of scandals and ensure that either the law is amended or force them to pay unto the Government Treasury its dues. The Ministers and MLAs should be disabled to help these rogue excise contractors. But who drafts the laws? Bureaucrats! It is unfortunate that the evil of corruption has penetrated into every department of the Government. As a result there is a danger of our health programme, education programme, defence planning etc., suffering systemic collapse leading to, not a geographical division as in 1947 but a social division ? Poor on one side and the rich on another side.

Take health service. At the present high cost of private medical care and the collapse of Government run hospitals, the poor man is left to die without medical care. See "India? The sick man of Asia".

Spurious drugs are all over the place. Wherever there is a popular brand there will always be criminals wanting to capitalize by producing spurious drugs and selling them at cheaper rates or at the same rate as the genuine drug. But there is a danger. Can't these death - merchants be merciful to the poor and sick by selling placebos instead of selling the spurious drugs that may turn a killer?

One recent example was told to me by a Medical Sales Representative. It is about a capsule which is, mercifully, just a dietary supplement. A doctor working for a private hospital prescribes it, apparently for some financial consideration from its manufacturer. It is known as Hydromin-2. The patient buys it and when he removes its outer cover finds in that blister pack another inner cover with the print reading Ossimin. This is totally different from what the doctor has prescribed. The vitamin Hydromin - 2 is a vitamin tablet while Ossimin is a calcium tablet. So, are they selling calcium tablets in the guise of vitamin tablet? Pushing the old stock? Here price is irrelevant. What the doctor prescribed and what the patient got?
What kind of dietary supplement the patient was getting? Apparently, the patient wanted a vitamin tablet and not a calcium tablet. But what he got was a calcium tablet. When the doctor was informed about it, he was least bothered. Like Julius Caesar, he told the Pharmacist who complained: What I have prescribed I have prescribed. Your business is to dispense what I have prescribed. It is very obvious the Pharmaceutical Company wants to push its old stock of calcium tablets under the cover of vitamin tablets.

When the matter was taken to the Drug Controller, it was an advantage for the Drug Controller. He warned the Stockist, collected his mamool that came unsolicited. The Drug Controller immediately changed his stand and said since it is only a "dietary supplement" the rules of Drugs and Cosmetics do not apply. Hallelujah! A country of rogue doctors and rogue drug controllers. And also pharmacists. Honourable exceptions apart. Now, let us turn to our Doddaspatre ? K. R. Hospital. It is rendered useless by the Government, even though it is most useful to the poor of our society. But what can they get from this once famous hospital known for its famous doctors and very good service. Now, it is a cesspool of corruption. So they go to private hospitals. But can they afford the cost?

One example. Take this case. Right ureteric calculi. In other words stone in the urinary passage. Total cost Rs. 31,000. The surgeon's fee Rs. 8,000. Can't this be reduced? A doctor friend of mine says it can and also other costs. Can a man earning Rs. 5,000 a month afford this without borrowing? As for labourers, God only should do a miracle to dissolve the 'evil' stone. Wonder, like MRP on domestic consumer items, why not put a maximum fee for different kinds of surgeries? Just because one is rich, he need not be exploited as a patient. As for the poor, the present Yashaswini (medical) scheme meant for the employees of co - operative organisations must be extended to all those who want it. Or alternatively as with the farmers' loans, the medical bills of the poor people, specially labour class, should be written-off, waived, either completely or 50 per cent of the cost.

Our rulers must think about this. They must introduce a system of mass medical insurance as in US. Otherwise the poor of our land will die due to poor medical care while rich will survive at the cost the poor working class. There is lot of truth in what Lok Ayukta Justice N. Santosh Hegde said just a few days ago about our doctors. He said "money has become important than service in medical profession." He calls it an "evil" and draws attention to medical malpractice. He wants some strong measure, legal or professional, to be taken to give medical profession a "human face". He says: "In pursuit of easy money, many doctors are recommending unnecessary surgery and treatment." I have heard from some patients the refrain that some doctors and surgeons avoid appointments, deliberately, to ensure his fee or cost is accepted without bargain or a request for concession.

When I mentioned it to a doctor friend of mine he simply said with his tongue-in-cheek: "First ask the medical college mafia to reduce the donation amount for MD and MS." I was silenced. "It is not the doctors who should take the Hippocratic Oath. It is the management of medical colleges," he concluded.

K. B. Ganapathy
Editor in Chief
Star of Mysore
Mysore