The State government will soon start providing platelets at all government hospitals across the State to ensure that poor people are not exploited by private hospitals, said K.R. Ramesh Kumar, Minister for Health and Family Welfare.
Talking to The Hindu here on Monday, Mr. Ramesh Kumar said that the government will provide the necessary infrastructure such as blood storage units, freezer, and components separator to the hospitals.
The Minister said that he had come to know that poor people were finding it tough owing to the lack of platelets in government hospitals and most private hospitals collected fees from them. He said that Jayadeva Hospital charged around Rs. 60,000 for inserting stents while private hospitals charge around Rs.1.5 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakh.
The government was also planning to completely equip taluk-level and district-level hospitals to provide complete healthcare to people, he added. The government is also thinking of regulating private hospitals and nursing homes and prevent them from collecting huge fees from patients, he said. Mr. Ramesh Kumar said that over 219 tonnes of “expired drugs” reportedly piled up in government hospitals across the State and it would be destroyed soon.
He had already instructed officials of the Health Department to order and procure drugs based on the need of PHCs, community health centres and taluk hospitals hereafter.
He also asked the officers to return the ‘expired drugs” to the supplier and if the supplier refuses to take back the medicines, forfeit the deposit money of the supplier. He also instructed them to get an undertaking from the suppliers that they would take back the expired medicines while purchasing drugs.
