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Karaikal MLAs highlight sufferings of patients

Special Correspondent

Express concern over lack of ambulances in government hospitals

Pondicherry: Legislators from Karaikal region brought to the notice of the Government during question hour on Wednesday the sufferings of patients owing to want of ambulances and drivers in the Government hospitals in Karaikal. Leader of the Opposition A.M.H. Nazim (DMK), P.R. Siva (MDMK), V. K. Ganapathy (PMC) and A. Marimuthu (Independent) said that the Government should initiate steps to rectify the shortcomings as patients were facing difficulty in reaching hospitals either in Pondicherry or other places whenever they were referred for treatment to the hospitals outside Karaikal.

Mr. Nazim said that a well-equipped ambulance was also provided at a cost of Rs.10 lakh to the Government general hospital but it was lying idle in a corner. Mr. Ganapathy said that the ambulances of primary health centres were all kept on the general hospital campus. There was a plea that the drivers should all be brought under the control of the Health Department instead of being left at the disposal of the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms.

Health Minister E. Valsaraj told the members that whenever patients were referred for advanced treatment they were provided ambulances to reach the hospitals either in Pondicherry or in Thanjavur. Mr. Marimuthu said that most of the time drivers were making themselves scarce by remaining at home.

Speaker R. Radhakrishnan said that it was a general and constant complaint from several quarters that there was a shortage of drivers and ambulances in government hospitals. He suggested that the authorities could outsource the facility if possible.

The Chief Minister told the members that immediate steps would be taken to have a full-fledged hospital with all facilities in Karaikal.

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