Minister for Medical Education Sharan Prakash Patil has said the State government would take steps to restore the credibility of McGann Hospital, a government hospital attached to the Shivamogga Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) where an old woman was forced to drag her ailing husband on the floor after being denied a wheelchair recently.
Mr. Patil visited the hospital on Saturday and listened to versions of the incident from doctors, other employees, and patients. He also chaired a meeting with the heads of various departments of SIMS and discussed steps to be taken to prevent such incidents. Speaking to reporters later, Mr. Patil termed the case unfortunate. He also said an MRI scanning facility would be introduced at the hospital shortly and an advertisement would be floated soon to fill the vacant radiologist posts there.
The State government had released ₹32.36 crore in 2013 for the construction of a super-speciality health centre on the premises of McGann Hospital. The plan was to offer advanced medical services in cardiac care, trauma care, nephrology and urology at the centre.
Work on the ground and first floors of the centre was completed in December 2013. The second phase of the work, which includes construction of the second floor, commenced in June 2014 but came to a halt in April 2015 because of paucity of funds. Mr. Patil said the government would release the funds necessary for completion of work at the earliest. He directed B.V. Sushil Kumar, director of SIMS, to prepare an estimate of funds required.
He also said the intake for undergraduate medical courses at SIMS has been enhanced from 100 to 150 for 2017-18. Therefore, a new hostel will be constructed and the capacity of the existing laboratory enhanced. The State government will provide SIMS ₹5 crore for the purpose, he said.
