Medical Education Minister S A Ramdas on Tuesday got a dose of his own medicine during his inspection of Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology.
Irked by the minister’s charges against him of dereliction of duty, S. Lokaraj, a junior lab technician, dared him to take “any action” he wanted.
In a heated response to the Minister’s accusation that he had not attended to official duties and instead was busy with the hospital’s Rajyotsava celebrations, Mr Lokaraj said: “What is my offence? Is it a crime to attend a Kannada Rajyotsava function organised at your workplace and that too after completing your official work? I have drawn several blood samples from morning and am at work even now.”
Going a step further, he alleged that he was being targeted for exposing the alleged irregularities in recruitment, and misappropriation of funds in the Vajpayee Arogyashri programme by seniors in the hospital.
The minister, who refused to listen to any arguments, directed the officials to issue a show-cause notice and place the lab technician under suspension.
Earlier, the minister’s expression of anger against Head of the Department of Medical Oncology K C Lakshmaiah for not maintaining records of the patients in the out-patient department (OPD), was cut short by a patient attender M. Chezhayan from Nataramballi near Krishnagiri.
“The doctors here are good and caring. We have had a very good experience and my uncle Veeraraghavan, who is being treated for lung cancer, is recovering,” he told the Minister.
Taken aback, the Minister said: “There are some good doctors here and it is good that they deserve appreciation.” He went on to direct the officials to issue a show cause notice to Dr Lakshmaiah, saying that he had received a telephonic complaint against the doctor.
“The caller has complained that Dr Lakshmaiah did not attend to all the patients in the Medical Oncology OPD after making them wait for long. Show me the records of the patients that you have seen yesterday,” he asked the doctor.
Dr Lakshmaiah, who said he had seen nearly 40 patients on Monday, said the usual practice is to make an entry in the case sheet of the patient and not in a separate register. Following this, the Minister said that all doctors should henceforth maintain diaries to record the details of the patients they have seen and submit it to the hospital director every month.
Legislators’ corpus fund
Special Correspondent
Bangalore: Medical Education Minister S A Ramdas has announced a legislators’ corpus fund to provide free treatment to children living with cancer and AIDS.
During an inspection at the paediatric ward in Kidwai, the minister said a proposal for MLAs to contribute to the corpus fund or adopt a child living with cancer or AIDS would be floated at the forthcoming Belgaum session.
“We will distribute forms for contributions to the corpus fund in the Belgaum session. The legislators will be given an option either to contribute for the fund or adopt a child,” the Minister said.
