U T Khader demands reopening of old block of Wenlock Hospital

MANGALURU: Former health minister U T Khader demanded that the department of health and family welfare take immediate steps to restart the OPD as well as clinical and pharmacy services at the 160-year-old Wenlock Hospital. A tertiary care health facility for not just Dakshina Kannada, but other adjoining districts as well, Khader said its closure has left the poor and marginalised sections without access to healthcare.
The hospital with 1,000 beds was the sole lifeline for weaker sections of society and even APL sections could get treatment at affordable rates, Khader told reporters on Wednesday. “Closing the entire hospital and asking people to avail treatment at private medical colleges and private hospitals dotting the city has put the poor to undue hardship,” he said, adding private health facilities are reluctant to treat these patients over past uncleared dues.
People wanting urgent treatment, and who are eligible for it under the Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka scheme, too will have to bear the costs, till such time they are enrolled under the scheme, in emergencies, if they have registered previously, he said. Besides, there is no code for all ailments under the scheme, which again leaves the poor vulnerable to the whims of these private institutions, he said. In addition, patients must bear the cost of medicines prescribed, he said.
The Arogya Raksha Samiti fund at the disposal of Wenlock Hospital, now the designated Covid-19 facility for the district, is barely adequate to meet the bare maintenance cost of the hospital. The authorities are not in a position to dip into this fund to meet the health expenses of BPL patients seeking treatment in a private facility, he said, adding doctors and staff of private hospitals are also not willing to treat patients without PPE kits, that are in short supply.
Saying that following the Bengaluru model of designating Victoria Hospital as the designated Covid-19 hospital will not work here, Khader reminded the department that unlike the state capital, Dakshina Kannada has just one government hospital. “The authorities must take immediate steps to shift ventilators from the old block and shift it to the new ICU set up in the multi-purpose block built on the same campus, sanitise the old block and open it for the public,” he said.