The State government plans to set up a hospital specialising in cardiac care, cancer and kidney treatment in Hubballi, Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar has said.
Public health care institutions such as Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research and Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology will set up and run more such tertiary health care centres, the Minister said.
He was speaking at the inauguration of new facilities at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences there on Saturday. He inaugurated a new administrative building for KIMS, a cardiology centre, a mortuary, a skill laboratory and a retina clinic.
The administrative building has been constructed at a cost of ₹ 19 crore, the skill lab at ₹ 2.8 crore, cardiac care centre at ₹ 6.88 crore, mortuary at ₹ 1 crore and the retina clinic at ₹ 1 crore.
He said that COVID-19 was under control in the State. “The government has spent around ₹ 300 crore on COVID-19 management and conducted over one crore tests till now. Beds with oxygen supply were increased to 31,000 from 6,000. The rate of death in the State is among the lowest in the country. We are on the watch about a possible rise of cases in a second wave of the epidemic on the lines of Europe, Delhi and Ahmedabad,’’ he said.
The State has 185 RTPCR labs. The 60 medical colleges in the State are also setting up such labs, according to him.
“As many as 1.15 lakh families, including those above poverty line, have been included in the Arogya Karnataka Ayushman Bharat scheme. The government will introduce a comprehensive health policy that includes human resource management training for doctors and also increasing salaries and allowances of all health care professionals,” he said.
In Belagavi, Dr. Sudhakar said on Saturday that by January next, all government hospitals will be converted into 24 x 7 health care facilities. “We also have plans to make sure that all diagnostic tests and medicines are available free to all. The government will also set up more primary health centres, depending on the population in villages,” he added.
He asked doctors, nurses and staff to introspect why the poor don’t get good treatment and facilities at government hospitals, despite the government spending large amounts of money on infrastructure and salaries.
