Sir, – The representative from the Indian Embassy concludes his letter (April 28th) by saying "in these challenging times, a little more empathetic reporting would also be helpful".
The question must be asked, however, empathetic to whom?
Empathetic to the Indian government or empathetic to the people who are actually suffering and dying because of historical neglect of government investment in the health services?
Let us remind ourselves that for the 10 years before Covid-19, the proportion of the Indian national budget spent on health was approximately 2 per cent, whereas each year the military received roughly 15 per cent of the same budget over the same period, thereby cementing India’s position as the world’s third-greatest spender on defence.
It seems greater empathy can be found for spending money on nuclear weapons and tanks than it can for hospitals and oxygen tanks. – Yours, etc,
DAVID DOYLE,
Sandymount, Dublin 4.