Health Minister urged not to handover Udupi Government Hospital to private sector
Udupi, Sept 29: Citizens Union has urged the Health and Family Welfare Minister Shivanand Patil to not to hand over the Haji Abdullah women and children's government hospital in Udupi to the private sector.
The Haji Abdullah Hospital has outsourced the daily maintenance of 200 beds to The Koosamma Shambhu Shetty Memorial Hospital and 400 beds to the Center of Excellence Hospital of BRS. When the government did not give a positive response to the protests conducted by the citizens, they had filed a petition at the Udupi Court seeking action against the government.
While the matter was before the court, the Health and Family Welfare Commissionerate completely suspended the services at Haji Abdullah Government Hospital on September 22, 2018, and shifted the patients to Kusamma Shambhu Shetty Hospital.
It has been mentioned in the petition that “with the intention to provide free health services to the poor, Khan Bahadur Haji Abdullah Saheb had donated the land to build a government hospital. But making a one-sided decision, the previous government gave the land donated by Haji Abdullah to build a new private hospital. This is an insult to donor Haji Abdullah.”
“Therefore, measures must be taken to provide free treatment at the Kusamma Shambhu Shetty Women and Children's Hospital constructed by the BRS Institute and at the upcoming Center of Excellence Hospital. The orders issued by the Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare recently should be withdrawn,” the citizens urged.
MLA K. Raghupathi Bhat, Union leaders Psychiatrist Dr. P.V. Bhandari, Yogish Shet, Haji Abdullah’s relative Iqbal Manna and others were present.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
