Who wants to help starving children the most?

Had a startling conversation yesterday on a conference call where, after suggesting to push program developments distributing a nutritional supplement of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in a neighboring state rather than in Andhra Pradesh (AP -- Hyderabad is the capital) due to AP government reluctance with the product, I was met with a colleague who responded with escalating volume for about a minute:

"Children are starving and dying here.  Right now.  I don't know how we can stand by and say we're going to give [nutritional supplement] there when there are thousands of children starving to death in AP, and [the product] is being produced here."

Although he said we, I felt sure that he meant me.  5 seconds silence on the call ensued.

Flabbergasted and relieved that we were on a call rather than a meeting so my colleagues couldn't see my completely flushed face and gaping mouth, I hardly knew how to respond.  I agree.  We all agree.  Aren't we all working on this nutrition program and moved to various locations across India because we agree?

If I'm concerned about how angering the local state government by pushing a product that they're not totally sold on threatens the sustainability of the product in AP instead of jumping in a truck and taking treatment to kids that are probably dying in this moment, does that mean I want to help the kids less?  In the last 2 years working with the Clinton Foundation, I've found one of the most frustrating things about public health is how the problems are always urgent, but systems are almost always incredibly slow and ineffective.  CHAI is great because it's an organization that places a premium on speed (even if, have found, this sometimes means sacrificing long-term foresight), and that's one of the top reasons I came back.  But talking to that colleague made me definitely take a step back.  Having met and silently cursed my fair share of jaded public health officers and ineffective government bureaucrats I was appalled to think that this is now suddenly -- in my first week, no less -- what my colleague thought of me.

In the end, I don't think this is true.  It's my first week, and if I'm reluctant to move ahead, am pretty sure it's because I don't really know much yet -- about India, AP, even nutrition -- yet I still feel chagrined when I think back to that phone conversation.  If he raises his voice in a meeting, does that mean he wants to help them more?