Appeal to Gujarat Governor: Halt the privatization of Vyara Government hospital and Medical College

06/05/2025

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The Governor of Gujarat
Raj Bhavan, Gandhinagar,
Gujarat

Sub: Appeal to exercise the special discretionary powers granted to you under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, to halt the privatization of Vyara Government hospital and Medical College

Sir,

We the undersigned are health rights experts and social activists of various people’s organizations from across India, writing to you on behalf of the National Health Rights Alliance, a pan-indian initiative of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), to secure the right to health of all citizens and communities. We seek your urgent intervention to invoke powers vested in you under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, to halt the privatization of Vyara Government hospital and Medical College.

You must be well-aware that for over two months now, thousands of adivasis in South Gujarat have risen up in organized and continuous protest against the proposed move to privatize the Vyara Government Hospital and Medical College. The Government hospital of Vyara (District Tapi) is a nodal referral hospital not just for all the talukas of the district, but also for the adjacent blocks of the surrounding adivasi-populated districts such as Dang and Navsari. The Adivasi citizens of this region are extremely distressed by the move of the Government of Gujarat to privatize the services of this public hospital, and also to hand over the newly sanctioned medical college attached to this hospital to private entities.

A few years ago, too, there was a similar effort by the government to privatize the hospital, but the Adivasis of Tapi District protested and the government gave them the assurance that there would be no privatization of the hospital. However, in 2024, the Government of Gujarat has gone back on its word, and has decided to go ahead on the path of privatization. As soon as the Adivasi villages and organizations got to know of this, they have gone on a peaceful dharna in front of the hospital. Everyday, Adivasi citizens from all villages have been coming regularly to register their protest and appeal to the government to halt this highly unjust process of privatization.

It is pertinent to state that many of the Adivasi areas in Gujarat are lagging behind on Human Development (especially health) indicators. Tapi and Dang districts have very significant numbers of stunted and wasted children due to high levels of malnourishment (36.6% and 40.9%). In this context, it is absolutely important that the health services are retained with the government, to ensure accountability. The adivasi communities are absolutely clear that they do not want the accountability of their health to be vested in private hands, entering the health sector only for profit. Kindly note that even in the adjacent state of Rajasthan, privatisation in rural remote areas has failed and the Govt. had to reestablish the Public Health Services. It is therefore, important for the Govt of Gujarat to learn from the experiences.

In a welfare state, the government is expected to ensure food and social security, public health, education and affordable public transport for its citizens. But what is happening as of now is the rampant privatization of such services in the name of ‘development’; benefitting a small group of vested interests. The corporate monopolies are becoming stronger at the expense of the state and its people.

Hence it is a non-negotiable demand of the Adivasi communities of Tapi district that the government hospital of Vyara and the medical college in Vyara should not be handed over to private vested interests under any circumstance, and should be run by the government.

The Adivasi culture and values have always upheld the harmonious existence of human beings with nature; which was essential for the survival of humankind. However, with the advent of the neo-liberal capitalist economic policies – liberalization, privatization and globalization, this harmonious existence has been threatened, and we see a mad rush to plunder more and more of natural resources – eventually leading to climate change and recurrent disasters.

In the Adivasi districts of South Gujarat, we see this happening through a plethora of ‘development’ projects viz. DMIC, Bharat Mala, Railway Freight Corridor, Statue of Unity to Saputara Green Corridor and National Highway 56. These mega projects are not only going to lead to massive displacement, they would have a destructive impact on the ecology of the Adivasi regions.

In addition, the arbitrary declaration of wild life sanctuaries, eco-sensitive zones and leopard rescue zones sans any consultation with the Adivasi communities cause untold dispossession and suffering, without even achieving the desired results intended by those actions. You may also be aware of the environmentally dangerous Par-Tapi River Linking Project which the government had to halt due to protests by Adivasis across the districts of South Gujarat. There needs to be a serious review of all such ecologically destructive projects that displace adivasi communities in the constitutionally protected 5^th Schedule areas.

We want you to also note that rampant destruction, dispossession and displacement leads to disruption of lives, livelihoods and enormous mental stress, resulting in depression and psychological illnesses. It is, therefore, essential to also provide counselling and medical services through Public Health care centers in the Adivasi hamlets by qualified health professionals, in addition to other regular health services.

Over the past two decades, the Government of Gujarat has not effectively implemented the two pieces of legislation which are absolutely important for the Adivasis: the FRA – Forest Rights Act, 2006 and PESA: Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas Act), 1996. The government, through such destructive projects, has been violating the 5^th Schedule rights of the Adivasis, their right to self-rule.

We see the push by the Government of Gujarat towards privatization of the Vyara Government Hospital and Medical college as part of the series of measures to bringing corporate entities to plunder the natural resources of the region that would render the Adivasis dispossessed, impoverished and deprived of their ancestral homelands before long.

We appeal to Your Excellency to invoke powers vested in you under the 5^th Schedule of the Constitution, to halt this march of destruction in the adivasi regions, in the garb of ‘development’. You could start with immediately ensuring that the plan to privatize the Vyara Government Hospital and Medical College is formally dropped, as demanded by lakhs of adivasis and working people in the region.

From across India, we stand in solidarity with the Constitution, Self-Respect, Resources and National Sovereignty Protection Campaign Committee of Vyara, in their struggle against privatization of the Government Hospital.

Thanking you and in anticipation of an early positive response and action,

Sincerely,

Dr. Suhas Kolhekar, Health Rights Activist, NAPM, Maharashtra

Pranjali, Researcher, Delhi

Preeti Oza, Labour Rights Activist, Gujarat

Prasad Chacko, National Secretary, PUCL, Ahmedabad

Paromita Dutta, Right to Food and Work Campaign, West Bengal

Ritu Priya, Public Health Researcher, New Delhi

Dr. Arjun Khandare, Sr. Scientist (Retired), Hyderabad

Dr Gopal Dabade, Drug Acton Forum, Karnataka

Swathi SB, Public health practitioner, Bengaluru

Arundhati Dhuru, NAPM, Uttar Pradesh