Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 28 (PTI) State Health Minister Veena George made the allegation in the Assembly in response to a notice moved by opposition MLAs, including P C Vishnunadh, claiming that the health sector in Kerala was in crisis.
George said that the health sector has seen a remarkable improvement in the last 10 years from the deplorable condition it was in during the UDF administration.
She also listed out the various facilities, like dialysis centres, cath labs and organ transplantation, available at many government hospitals in the state and claimed that none of these health services were available during the UDF rule.
The minister also claimed that financial assistance of Rs 2 lakhs were provided to some of the victims of alleged medical negligence or their families as an interim immediate relief.
“The opposition is making all these statements with the intention to destroy government hospitals and bring them to the same condition which existed during the UDF rule,” George alleged.
In view of her statement, Speaker A N Shamseer ruled that permission is denied to the notice moved by Vishnunadh, seeking adjournment of scheduled business of the House for the day to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, the opposition walked out of the House on the ground that it was not given an opportunity to respond to the minister’s claims, even as the Speaker said he only asked the UDF MLAs to wait patiently till George finishes her statement.
Earlier, Vishnunadh, while presenting his notice, cited several instances where patients in government hospitals died or lost a limb or found surgical items within their bodies and alleged that all these were examples of how the health sector was failing in the state.
He alleged that the government failed to provide any help to such victims of medical negligence.
Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who also spoke on the issue, accused the minister of “administrative inefficiency” and urged the government to not be “arrogant” in view of such incidents of medical negligence being reported from the state-run hospitals.
During the discussion in the House on the issue, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan accused the state government of lacking a “conscience” and claimed that there was “widespread irregularity in the health system”.
Claiming that the health sector in Kerala was on a “ventilator”, he urged the government to take immediate and urgent steps to address the issue.
On the other hand, various LDF MLAs, in their respective statements, highlighted the various welfare measures and initiatives undertaken by the government in the last 10 years to improve the health sector.
They also claimed that the health sector was in a dilapidated condition during the UDF administration. PTI HMP ADB
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