“The proposal of modernization of Mayo Hospital is licking the dust in Chief Minister office since past two years. Similarly, despite announcing Rs 1 crore for changing “Radiation Source” in the Cancer Department of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), nothing is done. It is a serious matter,” BJP MLA Devendra Fadnavis said.
Nagpur News: The South-West Nagpur MLA Devendra Fadnavis pushed the Government on the edge over the modernization of Mayo Hospital which is being sidelined for the past 10 years.
The BJP member, raising the issue in Vidhan Sabha, said, “The proposal of modernization of Mayo Hospital is licking the dust in Chief Minister office since past two years. Similarly, despite announcing Rs 1 crore for changing “Radiation Source” in the Cancer Department of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), nothing is done. It is a serious matter,” Fadnavis said.
The Health Minister Vijay Kumar Gavit, replying to the question raised by Devendra Fadnavis, informed the House that a meeting, presided by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, was held on August 8, 2013. The meeting decided to hand over modernization work of Mayo Hospital to Public Works Department (PWD). The modernization work has been sanctioned by the Government. Apart from modernization of Mayo Hospital, efforts are being made for availablility of funds for construction of three buildings in the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital.
The three buildings include boys hostel, casualty and OPD. The Minister further said that Rs 1.40 crore will be sanctioned for changing “Radiation Source” at Cancer Department in GMCH. At present, the “Radiation Source” at GMCH is balance for one year. Therefore, the patients will not suffer. In the second stage, an assessment has been carried out for a 500-bed hospital with estimated cost of Rs 295 crore.
However, Devendra Fadnavis expressed his dissatisfaction over the reply of the Minister to the Speaker Dilip Walse Patil and sought the Chief Minister’s firm reply on the matter. But the Speaker said that a meeting will be held under his chairmanship and a firm decision will be taken in this connection.
EYE TESTING AND EYE OPERATIONS IN GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS:
The issue of falling short in completing the target of eye testing and eye operations in GMCH and Mayo Hospital was raised by members Sudhir Parve, Devendra Fadnavis, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Vijay Ghodmare, and Yogesh Sagar in Vidhan Sabha. In the written questions to Health Ministry, the members asked the Government why the facilities were not provided to the people and the beneficiaries.
The Health Minister Vijay Kumar Gavit, in written replies to the questions, informed the members that the eye testing of 36,612 patients was done and eye operations of 1830 patients were performed in GMCH from January 2013 to November 2013. Similarly, 578 cataract operations and 275 other eye operations were performed in Mayo Hospital. Apart from this, eye camps are also being organized for awareness among the people.
UNSPENT FUNDS IN GMCH:
The questions on unspent funds in GMCH were raised by members Sudhakar Deshmukh, Devendra Fadnavis, Vikas Kumbhare, and Krishna Khopde, all MLAs of Nagpur. The questions pointed out that the GMCH received Rs 40 crore in 2010 in the first stage out of which only Rs 31 crore were spent. The GMCH should be developed on the line of Delhi’s AIIMS as hundreds of patients from Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh come to Nagpur for better treatment but they are denied of an excellent treatment. A committee should be formed for speedy development of hospitals, the members said.
The Health Minister Vijay Kumar Gavit said that under Prime Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme, Rs 150 crore were sanctioned. The share of Central Government was Rs 125 crore and Maharashtra Government’s contribution is Rs 25 crore. In the first stage, Rs 40 crore were received on February 24 2011 for purchasing machineries. The machineries have been purchased at the cost of Rs 36.14 crore and the process for remaining purchase is going on.
