PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar became the fourth minister to figure on the ‘sick’ list when he underwent surgery for an unknown ailment. CM Manohar Parrikar is undergoing treatment for what is believed to a pancreatic ailment. Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar continues to be in Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital after a stroke and Urban Development Minister Francis D’Souza is being treated for a kidney ailment. Besides the ministers, Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida is recovering from a stroke, while Canacona MLA Isidore Fernandes too had been unwell.
Public figures and celebrities having health issues is nothing new. Call it coincidence or bad timing, Goa’s legislators have taken ill in quick time. However, the secrecy surrounding the illnesses is baffling to say the least, especially in an age when high profile names take centre-stage to announce their ailments. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took to twitter in April to disclose his kidney ailment while former Apple CEO Steve Jobs publicly announced in August 2004 that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Recently, noted Bollywood celebrities Irrfan Khan and Sonali Bendre also announced that they have been diagnosed with cancer and have made no bones about it. In fact, Bendre tweeted, “Sometimes when you least expect it, life throws you a curve ball…”
Why is it that political figures in Goa keep their ailments a closely-guarded secret and refrain from divulging details about their health? CM Parrikar’s ailment is at best known to be something to do with his pancreas, for which we know he has taken treatment in one of the world’s top cancer hospitals in New York. We have heard of Madkaikar suffering a brain stroke in the first week of June and then there were reports that he is responding to treatment and was stable. Till now there has been no word from the government or the family if Madkaikar is even out of coma.
There have been no health updates on Francis D’Souza, Carlos Almeida and Isidore Fernandes and it is only when legislators are hospitalised that the public is aware.
The latest on the list is Sudin who has undergone, what is said to be, a minor surgery with reports doing the rounds that a biopsy was conducted on the ailing PWD minister. The nature of ailment has been kept under wraps even as the family has disclosed that he will be back in business soon, a response which most ailing legislators choose to offer.
Ministers and MLAs are public figures. It is heartening to see legislators walk out of hospitals and talk about how the prayers of the people kept them going. If we may recall, the entire state had joined in prayer across temples, churches and mosques seeking the early recovery of the Chief Minister, despite the unknown state of his pancreatic health. But consider this sad irony. People are still unawares on the health status of their legislators and the type of ailments they are suffering from despite the fact that a major part of the treatment is being carried out via the public exchequer.
State leaders by and large still believe that diagnosis of major diseases like cancer places them into a collectively understood stigmatized category. It appears that the potential stigmatization of these illnesses pulls our legislators into an insecure environment where their identity is threatened by the diagnosis. For them the biggest stigma is in their perception and how they see themselves incapacitated as leaders.
Why then this veil of secrecy? Our leaders need to be brave and derive strength from the backing of the people whom they represent and their prayers in this battle against ailments. They could be their best support systems.
