FREE BINAYAK SEN MEDICAL CAMP AT KOVALAM, TAMIL NADU

MAY 4th

The Committee for the Release of Dr. Binayak Sen, Chennai in partnership with the The Chennai Metropolitan Construction workers and Unorganized workers union, Kovalam held a medical camp at Kottai Colony in Kovalam village about 45 Kms from Chennai. It was decided that this series of camps would be planned monthly for at least a year.

The medicines were purchased at concessional rates with support from the Tamil Nadu Medical Representatives Association. Three doctors Dr. Aravindan, Dr. Gurumurthy and Dr. Rakhal Gaitonde saw patients and manned the pharmacy. All medicines and consultations were done free.


The camp was preceded by a short inaugural session where the traditional leaders of the village were present, after a welcome by Comrade Srinivasan, Dr. Rakhal spoke about Dr. Binayak Sen, his arrest and the inspiration behind holding this camp in solidarity with him. Dr. Rakhal stressed that this was not merely a camp to dole out medicines but was infact an opportunity for the people to share their problems, violations of rights that are going on on a day to day basis, come to know of your rights and entitlements and plan action for getting the same. The example of the National Rural Health Mission gaurantees at the village level was given. Dr. Rakhal mentioned the various entitlements as per the NRHM – the community was surprised as no one was aware of any of these. There was then reporting of the irregularities in the maternal benefit scheme of the Tamil Nadu government. The people also raised issues regarding the redefining of the poverty line in various government orders in an attempt to fix eligibility criteria. There was even a proposal to hold a large public enquiry on the issue.

After the inaugural session nearly 55 patients consulted the doctors. While most were common ailments the doctors were struck by the number of alcohol related problems that they came across. The doctors had time to speak to the patients as well as the members of the union who have promised to follow up the various patients who need follow up.

The community appreciated the effort and said that they would all mobilise a much larger number of people the next month.

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May 8, 2008 | Filed Under Press Reports | Leave a Comment 

Kerala: MEDICAL CAMPS FOR DR BINAYAK SEN’S RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE
19 April 2008

The Kerala Swatantra Matsyathoyilali Federation (KSMTF) and Free Dr Binayak Sen Campaign have decided to hold free medical camps in Kerala in a unique show of support for the release of well known health and human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen.

On 14th May 2007, almost a year ago, Dr Sen was arrested by the Chattisgarh police under the draconian ‘Unlawful Activities Prevention Act’ on false charges of being a ‘Maoist’.

Almost a year later now Dr Sen continues to be in jail and hearings of the case against him in the Chattisgarh High Court have commenced. In the meanwhile Dr Sen, who has already lost 15 kilos in just ten months of imprisonment and is in poor health, languishing in jail for the sole crime of working with the poor and defending democratic rights.

“ The arrest of Dr Sen is a case of high handed behaviour of the BJP ruled Chattisgarh government against an internationally renowned doctor with three decades of public service” said T.Peter, President, KSMTF, C.Sarat Chandran, film maker and Satya Sivaraman of the Free Dr Binayak Sen Campaign in a statement.

An alumnus of the Christian Medical College and of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Dr Sen is a respected physician much honoured for his self-sacrificing commitment to social causes. In December 2007, the Indian Academy of Social Sciences conferred on him the R. R. Keithan Gold Medal, as an “indefatigable defender of human rights and Gandhian social activist of rare courage and dedication”. Currently, he has been nominated for the Jonathan Mann Award 2008, the highest international award for health professionals excelling in human rights activities.

KSMTF plans to join health and human rights activists around India who are campaigning for Dr Sen’s release through a series of Free Binayak Sen Medical Camps to arouse public awareness about his case.

Over 125 men, women and children attended the first Free Binayak Sen Medical Camp held in New Delhi at the Jai Hind basti, a colony of ragpickers and domestic workers. Other camps are planned every month for the rest of 2008 in Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Trivandrum and Kolkata.

The medical camps are also part of an effort to take forward Dr Sen’s innovative public health work to new areas and highlight the issues of nutrition, child health and the link between socio-economic rights and health. India has one of the worst health indicators in the world, even lower than that of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the areas of infant and maternal mortality.

T.Peter President, KSMTF Ph: 9447429243
C.Sarat Chandran Filmmaker 09446426433
Satya Sivaraman Free Dr Binayak Sen Campaign Ph:09818514952

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April 19, 2008 | Filed Under Press Release, medical camps | Leave a Comment 

BHOPAL ACTIVISTS SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH FREE BINAYAK SEN CAMPAIGN

FREE DR BINAYAK SEN CAMPAIGN
PRESS RELEASE
16 April 2008

In a show of solidarity with the campaign for the release of Dr Binayak Sen, a delegation of activists representing the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors visited the second Free Binayak Sen Medical Camp in New Delhi on 13 April.

Speaking to members of the Jai Hind community, where the medical camp was organized, Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action talked about Dr Sen’s important contribution to public health in Chattisgarh and his work on human rights. Dr Sen, renowned internationally for his humanitarian work, is currently detained by the Chattisgarh government on false charges of aiding the underground Maoist movement.

“To arrest a person of Dr Sen’s record of public service, non-violent social work and deep commitment to the poor is a complete travesty of justice” said Satinath Sarangi. He offered to hold medical camps in Bhopal in support of Dr Sen’s release through the Sambhavana clinic, which caters to over 30,000 people still suffering from the after effects of the gas disaster of 3 December 1984.

Other activists from Bhopal talked about the problems facing the survivors of the world’s worst industrial disaster. Around 300 such survivors, who have walked over 800 kilometers from Bhopal to New Delhi, are in the national capital to highlight their demands for setting up a Special Commission on Bhopal to address various issues affecting local people and to prosecute Dow Chemicals which inherited the criminal and other liabilities of Union Carbide, the US multinational responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy.

At the Free Binayak Sen Medical Camp over 150 patients from the Jai Hind community were treated for a variety of ailments – many of them linked to low nutrition, poor quality of drinking water and sanitation available in the area. The camp was organized by the Delhi based Sajha Manch and its associated organisations as part of a nationwide initiative for the release of popular health and human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen.

“Training local youth in basic principles of medical care will be helpful to them as well as the community in general ” said Dr Jacob Puliyal, one of the doctors volunteering his services for the camp. Doctors participating in the Free Binayak Sen Medical Camps have offered to provide such training to youth from the Jai Hind community and this is expected to commence in May this year.

The initiative, of holding monthly Free Binayak Sen Medical Camps for the urban and rural poor, in cities and towns around the country – is meant to raise public awareness about Dr Sen’s detention under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and call for his unconditional release.

The camps are also part of an effort to take forward Dr Sen’s innovative public health work to new areas and highlight the issues of nutrition, child health and the link between socio-economic rights and health. According to a recent report by the news channel IBN/CNN over 6000 children die every day due to malnutrition in India, a situation worse than prevailing in sub-Saharan Africa.

Other Free Binayak Sen Medical Camps are planned among urban poor communities for April in Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore and Kolkata.

For further information contact:

  • Dunu Roy, New Delhi qadeeroy at vsnl.com Ph: 9910687627
  • Satya Sivaraman, New Delhi satyasagar at gmail.com Ph: 9818514952
  • Dr Rakhal Gaitonde, Chennai subharakhal at gmail.com Ph: 9940246089
  • Dr Punyabrata Gun, Kolkata shramajibiswasthya at yahoo.co.in Ph: 9830922194
  • Dr N.Devadasan, Bangalore deva at devadasan.com Ph: 9448491355

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April 16, 2008 | Filed Under Press Release | Leave a Comment 

MEDICAL CAMPS FOR DR BINAYAK SEN’S RELEASE

FREE DR BINAYAK SEN CAMPAIGN
PRESS RELEASE
14 March 2008

A nationwide initiative has been launched for the release of popular health and human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen, controversially arrested in May last year on false grounds of having links with Maoists in Chattisgarh.

The initiative, of holding regular Free Binayak Sen Medical Camps for the urban and rural poor, in cities and towns around the country – is meant to raise public awareness about Dr Sen’s detention under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and call for his unconditional release. Dr Sen, a heart patient, kept in a prison in Raipur for the past ten months has lost over 15 kilos of weight during the course of his detention.

The medical camps are part of an effort to take forward Dr Sen’s innovative public health work to new areas and highlight the issues of nutrition, child health and the link between socio-economic rights and health. India has one of the worst health indicators in the world, even lower than that of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the areas of infant and maternal mortality.

The first such camp will be held in an urban slum area in the national capital New Delhi on 15 March with the help of community organizations and volunteer doctors. Other camps are planned for March in Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore and Kolkata.

From April health activist groups in another six cities- Hyderabad, Bhopal, Lucknow, Calicut and Alleppey will join the campaign. Two medical camps in solidarity with Dr Sen have already been held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in late February, organized by the JNU Students Union and meant for daily wage workers on the campus.

The arrest of the internationally renowned pediatrician, on what are widely seen as trumped up charges, has outraged health and human rights groups throughout the world. Activists see Dr Sen’s arrest as an attempt to punish him for exposing human rights violations in Chattisgarh.

Apart from being a public health activists, Dr Sen is also Vice-President of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, India’s largest civil rights organization formed three decades ago as a response to the Emergency imposed on the country.

For further information contact:

  • Dunu Roy, New Delhi qadeeroy at vsnl.com Ph: 9910687627
  • Satya Sivaraman, New Delhi satyasagar at gmail.com Ph: 9818514952
  • Dr Rakhal Gaitonde, Chennai subharakhal at gmail.com Ph: 9940246089
  • Dr Punyabrata Gun, Kolkata shramajibiswasthya at yahoo.co.in Ph: 9830922194
  • Dr N.Devadasan, Bangalore mail at phindia.org Ph: 080-26645232

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March 14, 2008 | Filed Under Press Release, medical camps | Leave a Comment 

AN INITIATIVE TO TAKE DR BINAYAK SEN’S MISSION FORWARD!

On 14th May 2007 when the Chattisgarh police arrested reputed public health and civil rights activist Dr Binayak Sen they threw into prison along with him all of Indian Democracy itself.

Detained under the draconian ‘Unlawful Activities Prevention Act’ on false charges of being a ‘Naxal’, slandered in the media, denied bail by the Supreme Court, Dr Sen’s case stands as a challenge to every Indian who aspires for a humane, democratic and civilized India. If this is the treatment meted out to the Vice-President of a national civil rights organization and a doctor of international reputation, who has dedicated three decades of his life to work among the rural poor and tribals, it can very well be imagined what more ordinary citizens are undergoing all over the country.

Right now as we write Dr Sen continues to be in jail and hearings of the case against him in the Chattisgarh High Court have commenced. While the future course of the trial cannot be fully predicted, going by past experience, it could be several years before even a judgment of sorts will be delivered. In the meanwhile Dr Sen, who has already lost 15 kilos in just ten months of imprisonment and is in poor health, will continue to languish in jail- robbed of his freedom for the sole crime of working with the poor and defending democratic rights.

However, given the vague provisions of the law under which Dr Sen has been arrested as also the deliberate delays in the legal process it is difficult to envisage how his release can be achieved without a national level social and political movement.

There is an urgent need now to carry forward the mission that Dr Sen has dedicated his life to - namely public health work among the poor and civil liberties activism on behalf of the powerless. The message that we, the people of India, need to send to those who are willfully throttling Indian democracy must be – ‘if you arrest one Dr Sen we will make sure there are many more like him to take his mission forward’.

It is with this objective it is proposed to hold regular medical camps and public health campaigns across India, starting modestly with one camp in the last week of every month in six or seven cities and towns. The camps will be organized by groups working with urban poor communities in various parts of India together with concerned medical professionals who are interested in both Dr Sen’s release as well as the cause of public health in general.

These camps and campaigns will over course of time highlight the work done by Dr Sen, particularly in the area of nutrition and the link between socio-economic rights and health.

We appeal to all who wish to work for a more democratic, just and healthier India to come forward and contribute to these campaigns in whatever way they can.

For further information contact:

  • Dr Prabir Chatterjee prabirkc@yahoo.com Ph: 9433310060
  • Dr Rakhal, Chennai subharakhal@gmail.com Ph: 9940246089
  • Satya Sivaraman, New Delhi satyasagar@gmail.com Ph: 9818514952
  • George Sabu, New Delhi sabumg@vsnl.com Ph: 9810619901
  • Dr Punyabrata Gun, Kolkata shramajibiswasthya@yahoo.co.in 9830922194

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March 10, 2008 | Filed Under announcements | Leave a Comment