Minister promises to look into enhancing recurring expenses of KMCRI in Hubballi

Minister Sharanprakash Patil addresses healthcare needs, funding, and improvements at Karnataka Medical College and Research Institute.

Minister for Medical Education and Skill Development Sharanprakash Patil has said that he will take up the demand for enhancing the recurring expenses of Karnataka Medical College and Research Institute (KMCRI) with the Finance Department after verifying expenses under various heads in the past three years.

Addressing a press conference in Hubballi, Dr. Patil admitted that there is pressure on KMCRI as it is the sole tertiary care unit in Kittur Karnataka catering to the healthcare needs of patients from several districts.

He said that the government has already provided additional healthcare facilities at the hospital under various programmes.

“We want to ensure that every district has adequate healthcare facility and that’s why it has been proposed to set up medical colleges in every district and also set up super-speciality hospitals. A government hospital will cater to the healthcare needs of the common man at affordable prices. Moreover, it is free for BPL card holders,” he said.

To a query, he clarified that the entitled grants of KMCRI are being released regularly.

On the issue of private practice of doctors, he said that the government has already issued a circular directing that doctors should do private practice only after 4 p.m. And, also, it has been made mandatory to register their attendance four times in a day and there will also be CCTV surveillance.

“Attendance will be checked regularly along with CCTV footage and any absenteeism will be treated seriously and penalised through cut in their salaries,” he said.