This refers to the report "Labor panel for women proposed " (July 25). It is very heartening to read that labor panel for women has been proposed. I think, this will solve a lot of problems of working women and will give them relief. They will also be able to concentrate on the jobs properly.
A Lot of objections have been raised with regard to women working in lingerie shops, but, hopefully, labor panel for women will act positively to remove the misconception from the minds of a lot of Saudis who do not consider women working in the lingerie shops as a good thing.
I think, no work is small if it is done with perfection and dedication. In this age, a person's responsibilities have been increased manifold, and in view of this, working women contribute to a great extent in helping their families financially. Women should not mind working in any field if they get good employment opportunities. There are many fields where women's presence is much below the mark partly because of lack of their interest and also family compulsions.
Nursing, hotel and aviation industries, travel and tourism, pharmaceutical industries are some of the domains where women's presence is lacking. If they take interest, there may be ample opportunities for Saudi women to work in these domains.
Also, it is good to read that 50,000 jobs were given to women last year, as it will strengthen the country's economy.
Apart from this, women must compete equally with men as they are several times less in number compared to men. Meanwhile, Hafiz program is doing a great job by providing ample job opportunities to women. (Anees Lokhande, Alkhobar)
Free medicine program
The opinion piece on India’s free medicine program (July 24) revealed the difficulties of people in finding health care at reasonable costs. A well-managed and organized health care is one of the important barometers of socio-economic progress of any nation.
After the economic liberalization, opening of economy and slow but sure death of socialism, governments at both central and state levels allowed the whole public health care system in India to go into disarray by strangulating the funds or keeping the budget on public health care at the levels they were decades ago while the population burgeoned.
While it is difficult to provide free health coverage to all of the populace through public hospitals and clinics, yet there are several means by which the government can regulate the health care.
One way is by obliging the public and private sector organizations to provide medical insurance coverage to the employees and their dependents and the employees may be made to share the cost of such insurance. Besides, medical insurance programs started by some NGOs in India’s southern states to cover the rural population could be extended or copied by other states.
There is a greater need to encourage generic drug production in the areas where there is a heavy demand for medicines that are considered as life-savers.
This is possible when the malpractice by the large-and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies in influencing upon the medical practitioners to prescribe the medicine produced by them is abolished and treated as a form of bribery.
Large corporate and wealthy individuals should be encouraged to build and operate hospitals and clinics at which high-class treatment is provided to people who are not covered under any medical insurance. The cost of building and operating such facilities should be considered and recognized as charitable activity. (Safi H. Jannaty, Dammam)
Letters — Labor panel for women
