Hyderabad: The scenario would have been different if affluent Muslims had focused more on healthcare and had built well-equipped hospitals instead of construction of hundreds of pretentious function halls.
With coronavirus spread, hundreds of poor Muslim patients could not be admitted to private hospitals and when government hospitals are overcrowded already, no Muslim administered corporate hospital was available for their treatment.
A hospital, treating corona infected patients, on an average is charging Rs 5 Lac per bed with amenities like oxygen and ventilators. The poor Muslims are bearing brunt the most by staying at home, with little to no medical assistance. While rich people are getting admitted without serious symptoms.
A survey of number of functional halls from Greater Hyderabad area shows more than one thousand halls, out of which 50 per cent are administered by Muslims. The functional halls are built with a great infrastructure whose value can only be estimated in crores.
The palace like wedding places charge anything between 5 to 15 lac. Now when the lockdown began in March this year, these function halls have been deserted.
Moreover, the government has put a cap on the number of people attending a function. In this case, people are preferring having marriages at home or in small function halls. With the current situation, people for a few more months are not going to plan grand weddings with thousands of guests.
The numbers give an insight about what is crucial at this hour. If more of hospitals were in place to treat the poor, lives could have been saved.
When community’s healthcare improves, the country develops. With extravagant weddings, there is no contribution made and we are submerging deep into a social malaise.