Noney tragedy brings to the fore collective humanity
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: December 27, 2022 -
IN the aftermath of the fatal bus accident that occurred near Longsai village in Noney district on December 21, there has been not only outpouring of condolences from diverse sections of the society over the unprecedented number of casualties and injuries caused but individuals and organisations have been donating blood and pledging for the same.
The reason why civil societies and individuals are prepared to donate blood for the accident survivors is the consistent contention by authorities over inadequacy of stock in blood banks of the state.
There might be shortage of blood but one can’t help but suspect sincerity of those manning the authorised blood banks especially after volunteers of the Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur (DESAM) busted a blood racket at RIMS hospital around January last year.
It’s possible that the clandestine network would have gone unnoticed and the vulnerable patients duped of their hard-earned money had the discrepancies not exposed by the DESAM volunteers.
Even as the RIMS case led to strong speculation that it could be just the proverbial tip of the iceberg of such scandalous activities in healthcare institutions, no serious punitive action initiated by the government authorities against those directly involved in the unethical trade deepened the suspicion that the higher-ups in the blood bank have been receiving their cuts as well.
As pointed out by a DESAM functionary after busting the scam, there have been regular conducts of voluntary blood donation camps in the state with exception of the few months during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Such display of humane gestures of volunteering to donate blood is to ensure that the patients don’t give up the fight due to inaccessibility to the life-saving blood, which officials of the authorised facilities still claim is in shortage.
Nevertheless, the Noney accident has brought to the fore that the masses wouldn’t hesitate to come forward for a genuine cause.
Of course, the state’s masses have had exhibited similar act of benevolence whenever the state faced serious crisis situation such as the blood shed during the June 18 uprising as well as when the blood banks ran out of stock.
In case of the June incident, students and civil organisations formed committees to seek financial and blood donations from the masses and managed to evoke positive response from the commoners despite imposition of stringent curfew.
Similarly, blood donation camps, albeit, with limitation on the number of donors and with strict adherence to the safety protocols, were allowed even during the Covid-19 lockdown period as many patients were in dire need of blood transfusion after restriction on movement of caused sharp depletion of blood stock in hospitals, especially at RIMS and JNIMS, and in some private healthcare facilities.
The same spirit of coming forward in support of those in need of blood is evident in the wake of the Noney accident as individuals, institutions and organisations have been donating blood to ensure that the recovery process of students and teachers, who are currently undergoing treatment following the unfortunate school bus accident, do not face any stumbling block.
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