The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Concern over rise in cost of health care

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 07, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Concern over rise in cost of health care

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 6. Several core issues in the public sector health system, including the changes that are being sought came up for discussion at the `health assembly' held here on Wednesday.

The assembly, a forum for an open debate on health issues, was organised by the Kerala Gazetted Officers' Association as part of its State-level meeting.

The questions thrown by the people's representatives, government officials and the public were fielded by the representatives of the health sector and Health Department officials, including the Director of Health Services, B. Mahilamani, the Director of Medical Education, Meenu Hariharan, and the Additional Health Secretary, Rajan Khobragade. The `Speaker' of the assembly was the former He alth Minister, V.M. Sudheeran.

Questions were asked about the ongoing health system delivery projects, including the new reforms being sought with the assistance from the World Bank. The Government's withdrawal from the health sector, leaving the field wide open for the private sector was pushing up the cost of health care in the State, it was pointed out.

There was a lot of discussion on the issue of corruption in the posting of civil surgeons in the vacancies in various institutions under the Directorate of Health Services, and many questions were left unanswered despite the explanations given by the Health Department officials.

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