District in-charge Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake paid a surprise visit to the District Government Hospital here on Saturday and spent time with some patients enquiring about their health and facilities available at the hospital.
Siddamma, a woman from Bagalkot, wept inconsolably and told Mr. Sorake that her son Kallesha had died due to liver failure at the hospital on Friday night. His body had been kept in the mortuary of the hospital. She urged Mr. Sorake to provide an ambulance so that his body could be taken to Bagalkot.
Mr. Sorake consoled Ms. Siddamma and directed the officials at the hospital to shift the body to Bagalkot immediately at government’s expense.
District Surgeon Anand Naik told Mr. Sorake about the hospital was short-staffed and required 18 more doctors and 23 nurses.
Mr. Sorake later told presspersons that the number of beds at the hospital would be doubled from the existing 125 since Udupi was now a district headquarters and more patients were visiting the hospital. He said the hospital was also facing a shortage of non-medical staff and efforts would be made to fill the vacancies. He said he would speak to Health and Family Welfare Minister U.T. Khader about the problems faced by the hospital.
Udupi MLA Pramod Madhwaraj, who accompanied the minister, said that a report listing the infrastructural and manpower requirements of the hospital would be prepared with the help of experts and forwarded to the government for action.
