BENGALURU: Acting on a public interest litigation seeking directions to the state to complete the upgradation of Pandit Public Hospital to 250 beds at Sirsi, as announced in the 2020–21 budget, along with recruitment of doctors, specialists and staff, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the state government.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K S Hemalekha passed the order after hearing the petition filed by Anantha Murthy Hegde Charitable Trust.
The petitioner stated that in the budget for the year 2020–21, the state government had specifically announced that Pandit General Hospital would be upgraded in Sirsi from 100 beds to 250 beds, considering the extremely old condition of the hospital buildings and the heavy inflow of patients from Sirsi, Siddapur, Hangal and Mundgod taluks.
The cost for the proposal was Rs 26.08 crore, including an MRI scanner costing Rs 15 crore and a CT scanner costing Rs 1.7 crore. The project was to be completed within three years, and accordingly, the tender was finalised. However, even after five years of the announcement, the construction of the hospital remains incomplete, with only 80 per cent completed.
It was alleged that by revising the proposal in 2024 and reducing the approved medical equipment list from Rs 26 crore to Rs 5.20 crore, and removing essential equipment like MRI and CT, the decision is unjust, discriminatory and detrimental to public health.
Uttara Kannada district has no heart surgeons or neurosurgeons, and patients from the taluks of the district have to travel about 125 km to Hubballi for emergency treatment in cases of cardiac arrest, stroke or accident-related brain injuries.
Patients in need of such critical care are compelled to travel nearly 125 km to Hubballi, and as a result, many patients die before reaching hospitals for higher treatment.
Therefore, as an interim prayer, the petitioner requested that the state be directed to initiate immediate provisional recruitment of doctors and specialists in cardiology and neurology departments, so as to ensure that emergency cases from Uttara Kannada district are not left unattended and to save precious lives from being lost.