The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Health officials criticised for poor maintenance of hospital

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Thursday, Jan 21, 2010
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Health officials criticised for poor maintenance of hospital

Staff Reporter

Assembly Petitions Committee visits District Headquarters hospital

— Photo: M.Balaji

Lending ears: Members of the Petitions Committee of Tamil Nadu Assembly at Tirupur District Headquarters hospital on Wednesday.

Tirupur: The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Committee on Petitions took health officials to task for lack of hygiene and cleanliness in the District Headquarters hospital here.

The CommitteeChairman Kovai Thangam (Valparai MLA) and members visited the hospital on Wednesday morning.

Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Services M. Doraikannan told the committee that there were a large number of unfilled posts in the hospital. This had been affecting its maintenance. “At present, seven posts of doctor, 17 posts of hospital workers, six posts of sanitary workers and four posts of other staff are lying vacant,” Dr. Doraikannan said.

Mr. Thangam directed the Collector to take steps to correct the anomalies.

Tension prevailed for a while on the hospital premises as a group of people staged a protest when the Committee members arrived. They were relatives of Kavitha (20), a resident of Iduvampalayam, who died under suspicious circumstances at her husband’s house on Tuesday and whose body was still in the mortuary even 24 hours after the death. Kavitha’s mother told the Committee members that the hospital authorities were delaying post-mortem. “We suspect murder but the police are sticking to their stance that it is a case of suicide,” she said.

The field visits by the Legislative Committee had come under severe criticism from people. They said the visit by the Committee members to the District Headquarters hospital and some student hostels was a “farce” since the officials in the respective institutions were informed of the “lightning inspection” well in advance. “This is evident from the fact that the officials were waiting with bouquets and garlands for the Committee members and the pathways were marked with white powder a day in advance”.

Later in the day, the Committee members reviewed 75 petitions received from the public at the Collectorate and disposed 95 per cent of them.

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