Chennai, December 15 (IANS). Former Health Minister of Tamil Nadu and Organization Secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) C. Vijayabhaskar strongly attacked the DMK government. He said that the present government has failed to fill the required vacant posts in government hospitals across the state. It is even trying to hide the deepening crisis in the public health system.
He met Health Minister Hon. Also reacted to Subramaniam’s statement related to filling all the posts in the public health system. He said this claim is ‘completely false’. He alleged that its purpose was to divert attention from the shortcomings of the system under the current government.
He said the ground reality in hospitals across the state is completely different from the official statements of the government. From primary health centers to government medical college hospitals, government health institutions are facing an acute shortage of staff.
He claimed that a large number of posts of doctors, nurses, medical officers, pharmacists, lab technicians and health workers are vacant, which is seriously impacting patient care, especially with people in rural and semi-urban areas facing the most problems.
He alleged that the public health system, once a model for the country, is now struggling due to administrative negligence and poor human resource planning and that overworked doctors and staff are being forced to provide services far beyond their sanctioned capacity.
The former minister also pointed to infrastructure problems and alleged that many government hospitals built at a cost of crores of rupees in districts like Krishnagiri, Namakkal, Theni, Tiruchi and Cuddalore were not functioning. In some cases, despite the completion of buildings and purchase of equipment, the facilities are not usable by the public due to lack of adequate staff.
He told that the Health Minister said that there is no vacancy in the department. At the same time, the government has issued notifications inviting applications for recruitment to the posts of about 1,100 doctors. If there is no vacancy, then why are doctors being recruited?
–IANS
SAK/ABM
