By Justice Markandey Katju
The Chief Justice of India, Justice Chandrachud, is very fond of cats
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| CJI D Y Chandrachud with his family in New Delhi. The CJI has two cats, Josh and Joshua. (Express Photo with courtesy: Tashi Tobgyal) |
From a reliable source I learnt that one of his
cats fell ill recently, and the CJI sent it to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New
Delhi for treatment by the veterinary doctor posted there. The doctor performed
an operation, and the cat has now recovered.
I am happy about that, but I
wonder how many humans in India get medical treatment like the CJI''s cat ?
If one goes
to the All India Medical Institute, Delhi ( AIIMS ), which is one of the
premier medical institutes in India, he will feel he is on a railway platform,
with thousands of people milling around for hours or even days, without anyone
caring. The government hospitals in India are mostly no good, with doctors who
should be there to attend to patients, often working instead in their private
clinics, while drawing govt salaries. And the private hospitals/clinics are too
expensive for the common man.
So what does the common man do ? He goes to quacks
( called jholachhaap doctors ), and the number of quacks would be several times
the number of qualified doctors in India.
This also reminds me of a
joke :
When a Judge's cat or dog dies, there is usually a
huge crowd of lawyers and others at his home to console him on this great
tragedy.
But when the Judge dies, there is no one.
(Justice Katju is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. These are his personal views.)
