Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (RJP)
Kundapur, Oct 12: In a rare incident, health minister U T Khadar discovered that a patient in the government hospital here had died even before the doctors knew of it.
U T Khadar who gave a surprise visit to the hospital on Saturday October 11 night inspected the medical wards after visiting the mortuary and checked the attendance register of the hospital. While he was talking to patients and their relatives, he saw a patient, Sheena Ganiga, lying motionless. Khadar immediately called out for doctors and nurses and asked them to examine him, besides checking the patient's pulse himself. The doctors, after examination, declared that the patient was dead.
Earlier, the people, who learned about the arrival of the minister to the hospital, came in big numbers to present their grievances. They complained about the situations in the mortuary and about the quality of service in the hospital and the state of the ambulance service. They said that the doctors showed more interest in private practice than devoting time at the hospital.
When doctor on duty Dr Savitha did not offer satisfactory answers, the minister phoned district medical officer Dr Ramachandra Bayari and chief medical officer of the hospital Dr Udayashankar and told them sternly about two prevailing practices of not signing the attendance register and signing the register in advance.
Later, talking to media persons, the minister said that he was hurt and disappointed by the service being offered at the hospital despite it being one of the best in the region in terms of infrastructure. He assured that things will change soon as he has instructed the concerned persons.
On the suspension of Dr Sharathkumar from Udupi blood bank, the minister said that though the incident had happened before he became the minister, he still wanted to resolve the issue. But since the doctor has now gone to the court, the government is forced to wait for the court decision.
Khadar informed that the government will soon introduce an app to enable people to complain about the quality of services at hospitals. He promised that the vacancies in government hospitals will be filled soon.
Kundapur block Youth Congress president Vikas Hegde, municipal member Shreedhar Sherigar, local leaders Vinod Crasta, Chandrashekar Shetty, Shivarama Puthran, Shivananda and Shiva from bus owner’s association were present during the minister’s visit.