Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)

Mangaluru, Aug 29: Minister for health and family welfare U T Khader on Saturday August 29 announced that Karnataka has become only the second state in the country to implement child screening programme, where a newborn would be tested for certain health conditions free of cost.

Addressing a press meet at the Circuit House here, Khader said that currently, the machine to test blood sample of newborn babies is set up at CV Raman Nagar Hospital, Bengaluru. "In every government hospital in the state, blood samples of every newborn will be collected and sent to Bengaluru for tests. In future, private hospitals will also be asked to start this programme, for which they may charge a nominal fee."

"Nearly 80,000 births are recorded every month, and per day 2,000 tests can be done with this machine. An agency has been appointed to oversee the process, and it will collect blood samples of newsborns and send them to Bengaluru and also send back the reports to the respective hospitals. The process will take up to eight hours."

"A single procedure will cost Rs 512. A newborn will be tested for problems related to thyroid, enzymes, genetic, fertility related and so on," he added.

He also announced that the state government has implemented thermal ablation procedure for women with problems related to uterus. "The procedure will take only 15 minutes after which the patient can go home. This will be done free cost at CV Raman Nagar hospital in Bengaluru, and in future it will be extended to other parts of the state too," he said.

Khader further said that there should be clarity with regard to bans issued by the central government in cases like Maggi and certain cosmetics by pharmaceuticals. "The central government should take decision after holding dicussion. There should be clarity and nothing should be banned blindly. THe central governmment has not given clarity on Maggi. If there is any problem in any food, let the government shut down the factory itself. The state will not accept any blind decision."

"No one can stop Yettinahole project"

When reporters brought up the burning topic of Yettinahole project, Khader said, "It is an old story. D V Sadananda Gowda (union law minister) had taken this decision when he was chief minister. At that time we were in the opposition and the project was passed with majority backing in the Assembly. Once it is passed in the Assembly it means the whole state has approved this project and no one can stop it."

A heated discussion ensued during which the minister was bombarded with a series of questions by the reporters. When asked why there was no public hearing on the project, he said "The project was discussed in Bengaluru under the initiative of the district incharge minister."

He did not give a clear answer when asked why there was no public hearing in Dakshina Kannada.

When a reporter asked what would happen if there was scarcity in Dakshina Kannada in future, he said a checkdam would be built under the Paschima Vahini project to tackle water scarcity.

When reporters pointed about the possible impact on the environment, and that 24 TMC of water would not be obtained from the project as expected and that the government was also considering making use of Kumaradhara river, he only replied that experts have already discussed all these issues.

Asked if, being from Dakshina Kannada, he would support the Yettinahole project, he said, "As a responsible representative, I cannot go against the government. I will inform district incharge minister about all these issues and also the irrigiation miniser regarding public hearing in Dakshina Kannada. The government is keen to finish the project"

On senior Congress leader Janardhan Poojary opposition to the project, he said, "He is a senior and experienced leader. I will not comment on him."

"Attavar incident a blemish"

Regarding the recent incident at Attavar in which a man was stripped, tied to a pole and assaulted by right-wing activists and others, he said, "The incident is a blemish to our district. When Mangaluru is becoming a Smart City, people also should become smart. The police have taken stringent action against the culprits.

"Police should also file suo motu cases against those who give provocative speeches, no matter who it may be. These types of incidents take place because of poison injecte through provocative speeches," he opined.

Asked if the incident reflected failure of the state government, Khader said, "The police have taken immediate and stringent action. It is not a failure of the government."

When asked why the state government had failed to arrest those who made provocative speeches in the last two-and-a-half years, he said the police have take suitable action.

When a reporter pointed out that the Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike had found that incidents of moral policing had increased during Congress' tenure as compared to BJP's regime in the state, he said, "The atmosphere is different now. When BJP was in power it was defending such incidents, but we are against such acts and have taken immediate action after each incident. Some jobless people are sending messages through social media. We need to be united in our fight."