RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat cautions against the commercialisation of health care and education

Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has issued a stark warning regarding the growing commercialisation of two pivotal sectors - healthcare and education. Bhagwat made the comments at the inauguration of a cancer treatment centre in Indore, when public discussion involving affordability, accessibility and quality of important services are being heightened in the country.

Healthcare Without Profit

Bhagwat stressed that healthcare should be about service, not profit. He stressed the need to make healthcare accessible to everybody, explaining that exorbitant treatment costs can leave individuals devastated financially. “Healthcare must be made available to every sector of society, but not at the expense of the individual,” he stated, stating that the essence of medicine lies in compassion and care for individuals, not financially profiting from their suffering. 

Bhagwat also pointed out that there is no “one good answer” in healthcare. He supported the idea of combining different healthcare systems. According to Bhagwat, allopathy, Ayurvedic, homoeopathic, and other more traditional healthcare systems all have strengths in their approaches, and patients should be given the ability to choose the best treatment for their condition.

Education as a Service, Not a Commerce

Focusing now on the education sector, Bhagwat remarked that learning has largely become a commoditised product. Tuition fees are on the rise, private institutions are on the rise and competition is all around, resulting in education moving further away from its original function of holistic development.

Call for Affordable and Accessible Systems

Bhagwat's message was unambiguous: healthcare and education ought to remain affordable and accessible, especially for the economically weaker sections. He called for more efforts from the community and philanthropists and needed a government overhead policy and practice that put public goods above profit margins.

He also praised initiatives like the cancer treatment centre in Indore, where the objective is physical care at a price that is reasonable. He went on to say that this should be replicated across the country so that no one is deprived of essential service because of a lack of money.

A Reminder for Policy and Society

Mohan Bhagwat's remarks are a reminder that healthcare and education are more than services but are also two building blocks of a healthy and progressive society. Implicit in both private investment or technology. These developments must be held to the moral standard that they be humane and serve the public as a right, not as a service.

As India continues to develop, the challenge will be to ensure that its progress, especially in terms of open, secure access to healthcare and education does not occur at the sacrifice of compassion and inclusion. Bhagwat's call for 'low cost, accessible' systems is not just a supply mechanism; it reinforces our ability to use a much more equitable model which puts humans first and holds humanity at the center of healing and learning.