Madurai
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday has sought an action taken report from the Madurai district administration on a public interest litigation petition that has sought a direction to authorities to upgrade the healthcare centre at Saptur the district to a government hospital.
A Division Bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and P. Velmurugan sought a response from the authorities in two weeks on the petition filed by G. Gurunathan of Saptur. The government hospital was downgraded to a primary health centre, the petitioner complained.
He complained that the quality of treatment and the working hours reduced in time and now doctors visit the hospital occasionally. No treatment is being provided at night and no ambulance is available.
No life-saving medicines are available at the centre stating that it was a primary health centre, the petitioner complained. He said that the area was densely populated and no other hospital was nearby.
The next nearest hospital was 30 km away in Usilampatti. But, the bad condition of the road made it difficult for emergency vehicles to ply on the road. It is unfortunate that there was no 24 hour medical facility in the village, he said.
He said that he had approached the Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Services with a request to upgrade the healthcare facility at the centre. Also, a representation was made by the villagers to the Collector seeking to upgrade the centre.
The representation was forwarded to the Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Services. But no steps were taken to upgrade facilities or improve the status of the hospital, he said.
