Thread by @gauravsabnis

This made me cry.

https://twitter.com/rons1212/status/1386849116194369541

This is such great work. Gonna send them a cash thank you through a friend who is collecting funds for this initiative. Government hospitals in India are overrun with people who are literally penniless because they are daily wage dependent.

https://twitter.com/rons1212/status/1386592676720517124?s=19

This whole thread is just so life affirming. So many good people glowing everywhere even despite the darkness seeming to engulf us.

https://twitter.com/rons1212/status/1386303683806121988?s=19

This initiative is really resonating with me personally, because over the last 10 years, I've spent a LOT of time being the family member of a close relative in the hospital 😑. I could just walk out and buy lunch if I got hungry. Imagining being broke at that distressing time.

Few things underline the very structurally ingrained split between Indian haves and have-nots as comparing private hospitals and government hospitals. The best private hospitals rival Bellevue in their facilities. But Bellevue has a policy of NEVER turning a patient away.

High end Indian private hospitals cater to the wealthy. And that includes the wealthy who like to go by "middle class" despite being in the 95th percentile of income. Best equipment, clean rooms and corridors, great doctors. Just like malls, multiplexes, it's a first world bubble

Government hospitals in India by comparison.... They do their best. But they are very hostile and traumatizing places. The most vulnerable people in India have no choice but to go there. They have no voice, no influence, no money, no social support like my friends sending me food

Whenever I've had to be the guy at the hospital, there have been friends and family nearby constantly checking to see if I need any help. The scene outside Sassoon as I remember .... Even at "normal" times it was an eye opener about inequality. Kids of patients begging for food.

America's inequality is stark too and we talk about how many personal bankruptcies are caused by a non-rare health crises.

Take the darkest elements of US system, multiply it by a hundred at least, and you have the inequality of the healthcare system in India.

So many desi friends say "this US healthcare insurance system is so complicated and expensive yaar, our indian system is so much better!"

And I want to grab them by the collar and shake them and say that's cos you're top 5% in India but not in the US. The delusions we have! 🙄

I remember once holding my tongue as two indian friends, both from proper wealthy families, brahminsplained to a bunch of Americans at a party how India's healthcare as well as education systems were "vastly superior to the US". They go to DPS and Ruby Hall and extrapolate. 🙄

"Anywhere in India you go, you will find a great affordable* school or hospital. In US, you have to hunt for a good school district or then spend the money on private school. Hope your insurance covers things or pay like crazy out of pocket"

I was in a non talkative mood so 🤐

But what they don't realize is that what is "affordable" to them is steep or unimaginable for hundreds of millions of indians. Just like $30K for private school sounds exorbitant to them now that they actually ARE middle class in the US. Not elites like in India.

In the US, if you make average minimum wage, you earn approx $20,000 a year.

Median salary at IIT Delhi is $20,000. In rupees, that's very comfortable.

This comfort isn't some "demographic dividend", but a system that is designed to perpetuate cheap labor.