By Special Correspondent
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president Jeetu Patwari on Tuesday raised serious concerns over the state’s healthcare system while addressing the media on several pressing issues. He said that despite completing two years in office, the BJP-led state government had failed to fulfil the promises made in its vision document and election manifesto, and was instead misleading the public.
Welcoming the visit of Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda to the state, Patwari posed five direct questions on the condition of healthcare in Madhya Pradesh. He questioned the move to introduce private participation in newly established government medical colleges, sought accountability for the deaths of children due to contaminated cough syrup in Chhindwara, and criticised inhuman incidents such as children being bitten by rats in a government hospital in Indore. He also raised the issue of the alleged ‘Science House’ scam involving fake medical tests and asked why there was an acute shortage of doctors and healthcare staff in medical colleges.
Patwari said that incidents involving poisonous medicines, HIV-infected blood transfusions, fires in intensive care units and neglect of newborns exposed the government’s insensitivity. He claimed that if the Rs 23,535 crore health budget were spent honestly and transparently, free treatment for every citizen would be possible.
Taking a dig at state governmen, Patwari said it appeared more concerned with symbolic issues than with providing treatment, justice and safety to the state’s eight crore people. He alleged that public hospitals built earlier were being handed over to private players, warning that the state was facing an undeclared health emergency and demanding accountability from the government.
