Both Health Minister K.R. Ramesh Kumar and Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil admitted in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday that the episode of a poor patient being dragged on the floor by his wife because of non-availability of a wheelchair in McGann government hospital in Shivamogga was “inhuman”.
However, Mr. Patil expressed displeasure over terming the service at all government hospitals as “bad” based on isolated incidents. Mr. Kumar added that there was no level playing field in the media portrayal between government and private hospitals. He expressed concern that none, including the media, questioned incidents of overcharging or episodes of refusing to handover bodies of patients before settlement of bills by private hospitals.
Arguing that the business of private hospitals was affected by free and subsidised medical services in government hospitals, Mr. Kumar remarked: “Vested interests affected by the public sector medical services act in disguise.”
Meanwhile, Prasanna Kumar, Shivamogga MLA, raised doubts over the intention behind the video that went viral as somebody in the footage is heard saying: “Is it (dragging the patient) enough?”
