Sudhakar for new law to punish errant medicos

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Reacting to the death of a pregnant woman and her two newborns at Tumakuru after being denied admission to a hospital, Health and Medical Education Minister Dr.K.Sudhakar said If doctors or staff in govt hospitals misbehave with people, they will be terminated from service.

This issue will be discussed with the Chief Minister and if need be, necessary amendments will be made to the laws in the next session of the State Legislature, he said. The minister said the girl who lost her mother has been admitted to an orphanage.

A fixed deposit of Rs 5 lakh has been made in the girl’s name. The Government will also take care of her education. “Incidents like these must never be repeated. In case of an emergency, hospitals should not insist on documents.

Documents can be collected after attending to the emergency. There are about 76 notified emergency services and instructions are already in place to not deny or delay treatment in such cases. In case treatment is not available in government hospitals, people can avail it in private hospitals also and the government will bear the cost”. The Minister said incidents like these are unacceptable.

“The Police Dept has been trying to trace the family of the woman for the last 36 hours. If the family is not identified, the government will take complete responsibility in this case. Irrespective of which state the woman belongs to, she should have been treated at the hospital on humanitarian grounds”.

Responding to Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah’s comments on the incident, DrSudhakar said, “I can produce records regarding the number of infant deaths that happened in Mysuru when Siddaramaiah was CM. Siddaramaiah neither resigned nor sought his health minister’s resignation.

If he can stoop so low to politicise a death, he is not just unfit to be a leader. If the Congress leader is ready to resign as Leader of Opposition, then I will step down as health minister”.