A TB patient at the isolation ward under Delek Hospital's TB program/file
DHARAMSHALA, December 31: Tibetan activists have asked World Health Organization to keep politics away from public health. The appeal comes in the wake of a recent decision by the WHO to deny an award to a Tibetan hospital under pressure from China.
Jigme shows the WHO acknowledgement letter, WHO regional office, Washington DC/Jan. 30/2013
Minneapolis based Tibetan activist, Jigme Ugen, was stopped outside the Pan American Health Organization, WHO regional office for the Americas, where he had gone to submit a petition signed by 1600 people. After several hours of negotiation, he was finally allowed to meet with a senior member who agreed to accept the petition on behalf of Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, who incidentally is a Chinese national. Jigme was handed a letter acknowledging the receipt of the petition. The theme for the 2013 Kochon Prize is 'TB in conflict and refugee areas.' "As refugees who escaped political and religious oppression at home, Tibetans in exile fit the category perfectly,” said Jigme Ugen, who is also the president of the Tibetan National Congress. “There is no organization more fit to receive this award than the Delek Hospital which has saved hundreds of lives in the Tibetan refugee community and the local Indian community. The WHO must stop holding public health hostage to politics.” The Stop-TB Partnership chose the Delek Hospital, a pioneer hospital managed by Tibetan exiles in India, for the 2013 Kochon Prize that also carries $65,000 cash award. The award required approval from the Director General of WHO, Margaret Chan. However, days before the award was to be presented to Dr. Tseten Sadutsang, Chinese diplomats had reportedly stormed into the offices of Stop-TB Partnership objecting the decision. “I was shocked to find out how the Chinese government flexes its political muscle deep within the seemingly apolitical World Health Organization,” said Dr. Kunchok Dorjee, who directed the Tibetan TB program at Delek Hospital. Mark Harrington of the Treatment Action Group said to the Wall Street Journal, "It's a violation of the mission of the prize to deny an award to a program that is saving the lives of a huge number of poor people." Despite high rates of TB and drug-resistant TB in the community, the program says 93% of its patients in 2012 were either confirmed cured or were well after their treatment ended. The hospital’s TB program currently has about 300 people under treatment. It gets about 200 new cases a year, about 14% of whom have drug-resistant forms of the disease, including some that require lengthy doses of expensive medications.
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