While the Kumbakonam tragedy is yet to fade away from our memory, the heartrending saga of kids with heart aliments has come to stalk our collective conscience. Hundreds of paediatric cardiac patients were paraded on the streets of Hyderabad seeking surgical treatment, and one of them died in front of television cameras. The well-meaning media and activists are focusing on the human drama and pathos and pressurizing the government to make allocations. Hospitals are hard-put to cope with the patient-load. In all this, the real issues are ignored to the detriment of the poor.

The new UPA government has made commitments to enhance allocations for agriculture, employment guarantee, education, health-care and many other sectors. Given the precarious condition of our public finance, a great debate is raging about the wisdom of allocations vs focusing on better delivery of services.