Dr. BINAYAK SENA nationwide initiative has been launched for the release of popular health and human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen, arrested in May last year on grounds of having links with Maoists in Chhattisgarh.
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, Kozhikode and Alappuzha, 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 activist, 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 aresponse to the Emergency imposed on the country.
For further information, please contact:
Dunu Roy, New Delhi qadeeroy@vsnl.com Ph: 9910687627
Satya Sivaraman, New Delhi satyasagar@gmail.com Ph: 9818514952
Dr Rakhal Gaitonde, Chennai subharakhal@gmail.com Ph: 9940246089
Dr Punyabrata Gun, Kolkata shramajibiswasthya@yahoo.co.in Ph: 9830922194
Dr N.Devadasan, Bangalore mail@phindia.org Ph: 080-26645232
(I am grateful to Anivar Aravind (anivar.aravind@gmail.com) for the above information)
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