Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday warned of criminal action against private medical establishments if they refused to hand over bodies to family, insisting on payment of medical bills.
He said private hospitals should not insist on clearance of medical bills in the event of death of a patient. They should first hand over the body to the family.
If they are unable to pay the bills, the government will bear the expense, he said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah was speaking after inaugurating the 250-bed Sri Jayadeva Institute for Cardiovascular Sciences and Research and Trauma Care Centre on the premises of PKTB Sanatorium on KRS Road on Saturday.
He announced a branch of Kidwai Institute of Oncology for Mysuru and a kidney transplant centre at the Mysuru branch of Institute of Nephro Urology, which was inaugurated on K.R. Hospital premises.
Mr. Siddaramaiah also announced to provide MRI scanners to all district hospitals and dialysis units to taluk hospitals.
The Chief Minister said 1.43 crore BPL families will benefit from Suvarna Arogya Karnataka and all of them would get healthcards, which provides free medical care in all government and private hospitals. In the case of APL families, the government will give 30% of the treatment costs, he announced.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said his government had released ₹5,000 crore to Mysuru district over the last five years for development work. He also inaugurated a slew of development works.
