Media Release
Mangalore, Mar 15: Dr B Shantharam Baliga, eminent paediatrician and professor and head of the department of pediatrics, Kasturba Medical College, here, has been nominated to the ‘Governing Body’ of Karnataka State Health System Resource Centre (KSHSRC) by Government of Karnataka as per notification dated February 21, 2013.
Over the past two decades, Dr Baliga has been providing voluntary medical services in public hospitals through Mangalore Medical Relief Society. He has pioneered the concept of public private partnership in public health sector, thereby channelling resources and enabling thousands of children belonging to poor families to avail advanced care which would otherwise have been unreachable to them.
He has been instrumental in facilitating development of advanced tertiary care facilities in government hospitals. In 1995, he set up the first Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Government Wenlock Hospital, followed by a full-fledged Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Lady Goschen Hospital. Regional Advanced Pediatric Care Centre, the integrated pediatric tertiary care centre set up at Wenlock Hospital at a cost of Rs 12 cr is also his brainchild. Today, more than 2,000 children belonging to poor families receive free care from these facilities and this is expected to expand over the next few years. The first Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the private sector was also set up under his supervision at Mangalore Nursing Home in 1989.
He was actively involved with conceptualizing and formulating the newly launched Balasanjivini scheme for the benefit of children belonging to Below-Poverty-Line (BPL) families by the Department of Women and Child Welfare, Government of Karnataka.
He has been an active crusader against the havoc of Malaria, having served as the president of Malaria Prevention Action Committee since 2001. He is associated with several NGOs for promoting children’s welfare including Child Line and Nirmala Welfare Society (Child Adoption).
KSHSRC is an autonomous and independent body established under the umbrella of National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) for advising the Government of Karnataka on technical aspects for improving the Health and Family Welfare Services and also as a facilitating agency for civil society action.