All taluk hospitals, community health centres in Karnataka to ensure 24-hour service: Minister

Bengaluru, Nov 11 (PTI) Karnataka Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, on Thursday, told the Legislative Assembly that the state government aims to ensure 24-hour service at all taluk hospitals and community health centres.

This will be achieved by ensuring the availability of the necessary number of doctors, specialists, and medical staff.

The minister for Health and Family Welfare was responding to a question raised by BJP MLA Doddanagouda H Patil of Kushtagi during the question hour.

"Our aim is to ensure that every taluk hospital provides 24-hour service. In many places, there is only one obstetrician, one anaesthetist, and one paediatrician, but they stop working after 4 pm. After that, taluk hospitals remain empty," Rao said.

He added, "To ensure 24-hour service, we will now ensure two obstetricians, two anaesthetists, two paediatricians, one radiologist, and one physician at each taluk hospital. We want to ensure that people receive care whenever they need it." Rao pointed out that maternal deaths are often caused by a lack of timely medical attention, and improving services at taluk hospitals would prevent people from seeking care at district hospitals, which are frequently overloaded.

The minister also stated that the government wants community health centres to operate around the clock.

"At CHCs where performance is low, if there are fewer than 30 deliveries, we will replace the gynaecologist with two MBBS doctors and a physician," he said, adding that CHCs that stop working after 4 pm will now be required to provide 24-hour service.

Karkala BJP MLA V Sunil Kumar raised a concern regarding a note issued by the health secretary on relocating specialists from CHCs with fewer than 30 deliveries, warning that this may create problems in the future.

Addressing the issue, Rao highlighted the disparity in government doctors' work output, noting that some doctors receive salaries of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh but perform minimal duties. "Some doctors do only three to five deliveries a month, or sometimes none," he said.

Rao added, "Some doctors take government salaries but practice privately. What is the point of paying them such high salaries? If you are content with just having a doctor in your village, that's fine. But we want them to be fully utilised for the benefit of society. This is why we are making these changes. We are open to making adjustments if things don't work." On filling vacant positions, the minister announced that around 1,500 MBBS doctors are being hired under the compulsory medical service. There are also vacancies for approximately 800-900 specialist doctors.

"We have completed the process to fill these vacancies with postgraduate doctors. The case is in the final stage in court, and once settled, we will proceed with the recruitment," he added.

Rao further stated that permission had been granted to recruit 600 nurses, 400 lab technicians, and 400 pharmacists on a contract basis.

"We are mapping the deployment based on requirements. The recruitment process will be completed by the end of this month, and we will fill the vacancies as much as possible," he said.

He also confirmed that an order has been issued to recruit 223 doctors and specialists.

"This will be sent to the Karnataka Examinations Authority in January, with the recruitment process expected to be completed by April-May," Rao said.

Additionally, doctors who had been deputed to other departments, such as food safety, have been called back to their original positions, he said. PTI KSU SSK