BANGALORE: All government hospitals would have to ensure transparency and report to the Health Department every 15 days about the status of expensive equipment like CT scanners and X-ray machines so that no patient was turned away for their being out of order, Health Minister R. Ashok said in the Legislative Council on Monday.

He told Pratap Chandra Shetty (Congress) that currently all equipment in the hospitals were functioning. Specifically, the X-ray machine in K.C. General Hospital in Bangalore had recently been installed. However, it was not being used since the power connection was yet to be given.

In reply to a related question from `Mukhyamantri' Chandru (BJP), the Minister said that none of the government hospitals had purchased CT scanners since 2004.

The recently inaugurated equipment in Bowring Hospital here and the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubli, at Rs. 2.4 crore and Rs. 2 crore respectively were provided by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.

In 2006-07, the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare had drawn up plans to purchase state-of-the-art hospital equipment such as C-Arm, X-ray machines and for the burns ward and dental clinics, the Minister informed Mr. Shetty.

Paramedical staff

The Minister told N. Manjunath (Congress) that about 400 paramedical staff would soon be appointed to the various hospitals.

Specifically, the Chamarajanagar District Hospital had been sanctioned 86 posts, of which 54 had been filled and 32 were vacant over various lengths of time. Some posts had been vacant since 1997.

The D. Devaraj Urs Backward Classes Development Corporation had spent over Rs. 43.32 crore in the current year under half-a-dozen schemes, Social Welfare Minister Balachandra Jarkiholi said. He told Saleem Ahmed (Congress) that the schemes covered included Ganga Kalyana, Shram Shakti, term loans and those financed by the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation and the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation.

The selection committees in the districts were headed by the local MLAs under the Ganga Kalyana scheme to select beneficiaries.

The loan schemes were finalised through the committee formed under the chairmanship of the chief executive officers of the zilla panchayats, he said.

CoD inquiry

Labour Minister Iqbal Ansari told A.M. Hindasgeri (Congress) that a Corps of Detectives investigation had been ordered into allegations that several officers due for promotion were involved in making bogus appointments on compassionate grounds.

The CoD report on the officers involved was awaited, after which action would be initiated against the guilty. Mr. Ansari said there was no Lokayukta inquiry pending in the matter.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail