The members of the Udupi district unit of the Karnataka State Government Medical Officers Association staged a dharna here on Monday demanding that the 10 District Government Hospitals should be brought back under the Department of Health from the Department of Medical Education.
The association did not organise a strike at the District Government Hospital here. As a result, the services were not affected.
Nagesh, president of the district unit of the Association, said that the 10 District Government Hospitals at Bidar, Gulbarga, Belgaum, Raichur, Bellary, Shimoga, Davangere, Mangalore, Mandya, and Hassan had been handed over to the Department of Medical Education some years ago.
The association had been consistently demanding that the aforementioned hospitals be reinstated in their parent department, the Department of Health and Family Welfare.
The government had agreed to this demand in principle but had not taken any action. Moreover, in a move which was akin to adding insult to injury, the government was now thinking of handing over the other seven District Government Hospitals to the Department of Medical Education. Such a move would jeopardise the chances of senior employees to work at the district headquarters.
It would affect the implementation of all national-level health programmes, he said. Later, the members of the association submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner’s Office.