Editorial
Corruption Can be Lethal
An anesthesia machine is a thing that makes all mortals excepting the anesthetists, nervous. It cannot be said that many anaesthetists do not keep their fingers crossed while a patient is under anesthesia. Will she or he revive? The factor of human error is always there. And the machine can betray because of either its make or its maintenance or both. This is one contraption man, the professional to be precise, hasn't ever taken chances with. It is a death-dealing machine if not acquired and handled with man's utmost care. Why then is government going to buy 33 such machines from an assembler in Pakistan overriding express reservations by a technical committee appointed to vet the purchase proposal. The members of the TC have straightway said this particular brand of machine - a particularly hybridised thing with its parts drawn from many sources and not quite matching - was unsafe. How can the deal be still on after this?
This is a tell-tale example of how far corruption can go. There are examples galore in high literature of perfect ladies and gentlemen moralising the society while their incomes come from, as in Ibsen and Shaw, building substandard bridges that kill people and constructing rows of dwellings that can collapse any day. Why, one of Miller's protagonists built a bridge knowing that it would kill - and then it did kill a full battalion of soldiers including his son!
There cannot be any question of buying these. Ever. Enquiry should be launched into those responsible for bringing the deal this far overriding the veto of the experts. And the culprits punished.
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