Headlines of The Day
Govt to take over Mother and Child Hospital in Udupi
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said that the government will take over the management of Koosamma Shambhu Shetty Memorial Haji Abdullah Mother and Child Hospital, Udupi, from public-private partner BR Life, owned by B.R. Shetty and Binay Shetty.
“The required orders will be issued within a week and the takeover of the 200-bed hospital will happen in two stages,” he said, speaking after laying the foundation stone for the 250-bed District Hospital in Udupi.
Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar chaired a meeting in this regard on Wednesday, he added. The move comes following public demand for taking over the PPP model hospital after the private partner failed to manage it.
Responding to another demand from Member of Legislative Assembly K. Raghupati Bhat for a government medical college in the district, Mr. Bommai said that the government is working out a PPP mode for medical colleges. Once the plan is finalised, Udupi will find itself in the first place in the list, he said and added that there is no dearth for private partners or land to set up a medical college in the district.
The demand for upgrading the underground drainage system in Udupi town too will be addressed shortly, he added.
Mr. Bommai said that the pandemic exposed the ill-equipped health infrastructure of the country as it had not been developed up to the expected level post-Independence. However, the government converted the calamity into an opportunity and created a robust healthcare infrastructure in the State under the leadership of the former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.
As many as 25,000 new oxygenated beds and over 6,000 ventilator beds were added in the last one year while taluk hospitals too were given oxygenated beds. Infrastructure to carry out large-scale vaccination has also been created. When the pandemic was in the peak, the government faced it with step down hospitals and COVID Care Centres.
In Udupi district, Kasturba Hospital alone had the swab testing facility. In his first meeting as the district in-charge Minister, he asked the Health Minister to provide one lab for Udupi and within three weeks it was in place. During the second wave, its capacity was enhanced to 4,000 test per day from 2,000, Mr. Bommai noted. Despite he having no association with Udupi other than visiting Lord Krishna, he was made Udupi district in-charge by Mr. Yediyurappa two years ago, Mr. Bommai said. He was overwhelmed by the affection and warmth showered on him by the people who wanted only development and nothing for personal reasons. The Hindu