While remembering Savita, spare a thought for our millions of other sisters

Last few days, the newspapers and the internet is buzzing with how archaic & barbaric the abortion laws in Ireland is. The middle-class Indian is aghast at how one of their own can die due like this. How can Irish have the audacity to follow their own laws. TV commentators are demanding that Indian government step in and demand justice from Ireland. Not going into this circus, I hope that Ireland should be able to modernize this law which their own citizens also are demanding.

I turned back my attention to some facts and figures which are missing from this whole discussion. And that's maternal healthcare in Ireland & India. Though my exposure is telling me that situation is abysmal in India, I wanted to get some hard data to provide to my readers. Searching the web, I came across an unlikely source  … CIA. According their website, India has 200 maternal deaths per 100,000 Live births. Now hold your breath, Ireland has only 6 deaths.. Yes, you read it right. Its six maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Hmm, these imperialist folks, they must be fudging the data. So, I went to WHO website. It took some minutes to download. And that also had same data. Next, I started for some reports from Health organization, and its startling. Check these links

http://www.unicef.org/india/health.html

http://zeenews.india.com/exclusive/a-maternal-death-every-10-mins-in-india-un_5613.html
So, there you are. India is 33 times worse than Ireland in terms of maternal deaths. For each Savita in Ireland, we have 33 Sitas, Gitas and Shazias in India. I did not see any commentator making noise about them. Oops sorry they do not matter.. as they are not "middle class" but some "poor folks" who are dragging our GDP down.

There is a saying in Hindi, when you point a finger at someone, four fingers point back at you. So, if Ireland needs to just change their law, we need to do much more. We need to build infrastructure, we need educate doctors and nurses, we need to reach every nook and corner of our country. Rome was not build in a day, but if we do not realize that we have a problem, we will never even work towards it.

So, my English-educated middle class friends, do hold a candle-light vigil for Savita but also spare a thought for our not-so fortunate sisters who are dying during birthing as they do not have access to even basic facilities. I think they deserve atleast that from you .. at last they are your compatriots.