A strange conflict of interest was witnessed on the issue of suspending services of hospitals and dispensaries run by the Belagavi City Corporation (BCC), with the majority of councillors opposing the proposal placed by Commissioner M.R. Ravikumar here on Saturday.
While the Commissioner argued in favour of suspending the services of 13 hospitals and dispensaries in the city because they were ill-equipped with only 11 staff, including three doctors who were about to retire, no nurses and no paramedical staff, forcing the authorities to manage them through the pourakarmikas and hardly any clinical facilities. Further, he claimed that though the government was ready to pay a remuneration of Rs. 50,000 per month, no doctor was coming forward to serve at the BCC hospitals.
“If there was any untoward incident at these health centres, we will be responsible,” he said, arguing that the BCC could not operate these centres in their present condition.
‘Depriving the poor’On the other side, councillors wanted the official to realise the importance of small dispensaries and hospitals in providing healthcare services to the poor sections of the city. They said the officials should explore ways and means to equip these centres with at least basic infrastructure, clinical labs, doctors, nurses and paramedical staff.
Given that the poor could not afford to meet the high cost of healthcare services offered by private hospitals, closure of BCC hospitals would amount to denial of healthcare to a large number of poor, they argued.
While some councillors, speaking to reporters later, said closure of BCC healthcare centres would only benefit private hospitals as the district government hospital was often over-crowded.
Among those who participated in the debate included Sambhaji L. Patil, MLA, who made a veiled suggestion on the need to improve revenue by increasing taxes to improve public health services. Feroz N. Sait said effective ways need to be thought of to improve facilities at the hospitals so that the poor were not deprived of healthcare services.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Sontakki pointed out that the BCC was silently giving away its hospitals to private institutions — of the 13 hospitals, six had been leased to private institutions, including one to KLE Hospital. He demanded the chair to advise the Standing Committee on Health to take fresh stock of the situation and present a detailed report.
Mayor Kiran Sayanak asked the health committee to inspect all 13 hospitals and dispensaries and submit its findings within a month in order to take it up for review in the next meeting of the council.
