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Charge against GH baseless, says Puducherry Minister

Photo: T. Singaravelou

Under fire: A view of the Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Postgraduate Institute and Maternity Hospital. —

PUDUCHERRY: Health Minister E. Valsaraj on Thursday denied that the government had decided to restrict specialised treatment at the Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Postgraduate Research Institute to residents of the Union Territory alone.

“We have not taken any decision to restrict treatment at the Government Hospital for patients belonging to the Union Territory alone owing to funds constraints,” he told The Hindu over telephone.

He was responding to the charge made by the town unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) that the hospital had taken a decision “not to treat outstation patients on the grounds of medicines shortage.”

The CPI submitted a memorandum to Lieutenant Governor Mukut Mithi on Sunday seeking a probe into the alleged denial of treatment to a person with renal ailment, who was a resident of Tiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu.

Terming the allegation “baseless,” Mr. Valsaraj said the Health Department had not restricted the flow of patients to the hospital even though there were funds constraints.

On the allegation of denial of treatment, Medical Superintendent Govindarajan said the patient was not in a critical condition to be admitted and taken for dialysis. The doctor in the Nephrology Department had put him on medication.

He said except on renal transplants, for which the government had taken a decision not to take cases from other States owing to legal issues, the hospital had been admitting all cases from Tamil Nadu, including those who needed specialised treatment.

However, as cases of dialysis witnessed a four-fold increase after performing kidney transplants, the hospital had taken a decision to admit patients on priority basis for renal problems. Patients who were critical were given priority for dialysis, he added. Till about seven months ago, the hospital used to undertake around 50 dialysis cases and the number had now increased to 120, he said adding that space constraints had prompted them to give priority to those who were more sick.

The Health Department incurred an expenditure of Rs. 1 lakh for every patient on dialysis, he said.

On the issue related to the alleged denial of treatment, he said the hospital was ready to provide any document to disprove the charge and was open to any probe. After the issue surfaced, the hospital had taken 160 admissions and 70 per cent of the patients were from the neighbouring districts of Villupuram, Cuddalore, Tiruvannamalai and Kancheepuram, he said.

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