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 The orders issued by the Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare recently should be withdrawn,” the citizens urged.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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Indian mobile hospital treats over 2,200 cyclone-hit people as New Delhi ramps up relief efforts in
Colombo (PTI): A mobile hospital set up by India in Sri Lanka has provided medical care to over 2,200 people affected by Cyclone Ditwah, as New Delhi ramped up its assistance to the flood-ravaged island nation with engineering support and delivery of fresh relief consignments, the Indian mission here said on Sunday.
Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse triggered by the cyclone, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country's disaster-response capacity.
At least 627 people have been killed and 190 remain missing as of Sunday noon due to catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.
Sharing a social media post by the Ministry of External Affairs on its X handle, the Indian High Commission said a field hospital set up by India in Mahiyanganaya near Kandy has provided medical care to more than 2,200 people affected by the cyclone since December 5.
The hospital has also performed 67 minor procedures and three surgeries, it said. The field hospital was airlifted to Sri Lanka by an IAF C-17 aircraft along with a 78-member Indian medical team on Tuesday.
In another post, the mission said Indian Army engineers, working with Sri Lanka Army Engineers and the Road Development Authority, in Kilinochchi have begun removing a damaged bridge on the Paranthan–Karachchi–Mullaitivu (A35) road, a key route disrupted by the cyclone.
"This joint effort marks another step toward restoring vital connectivity for affected communities," it said.
India has additionally sent nearly 1,000 tonnes of food items and clothing contributed by the people of Tamil Nadu. Of these, about 300 tonnes reached Colombo on Sunday morning aboard three Indian Naval ships.
High Commissioner Santosh Jha handed over the supplies to Sri Lankan Minister for Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe.
India, on November 28, launched 'Operation Sagar Bandhu', a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) initiative, to aid Sri Lanka in its recovery from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
Since the launch of the operation, India has provided about 58 tonnes of relief material, including dry rations, tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, essential cloths, water purification kits and about 4.5 tonnes of medicines and surgical equipment, the Indian mission said in a press release on Sunday.
Another 60 tonnes of equipment, including generators, inflatable rescue boats, Outboard Motors, and excavators, have also been brought to Sri Lanka, it said, adding that 185 tonnes of Bailey Bridge units were airlifted to restore critical connectivity along with 44 engineers.
Two columns of the National Disaster Response Force, comprising 80 experts and K9 units with specially trained dogs, assisted with immediate rescue and relief efforts in Sri Lanka.
Besides the field hospital in Mahiyanganaya, medical centres have also been set up in the badly hit Ja-Ela region and in Negombo. INS Vikrant, INS Udaygiri, and INS Sukanya provided immediate rescue and relief assistance to Sri Lanka.
Apart from the two Chetak helicopters deployed from INS Vikrant, two heavy-lift, MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force are actively involved in evacuations and airlifting relief material, the release said.
At the request of the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre, a virtual meeting was organised between DMC and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s National Remote Sensing Centre on Saturday.
Since the onset of the disaster, ISRO has been providing maps to assist DMC in its rescue efforts, the release said.
