Instructions have been given to sort out 115 complaints received at the Health Adalat which was held at the Ernakulam General Hospital on Tuesday, Health Minister V S Sivakumar said.
A total of 221 complaints were received in the adalat. Ninety three complaints were received in the Allopathy section, 12 from the Homoeopathy section and 10 from the Ayurveda section. The Health Department had already received 106 complaints prior to the adalat.
The minister said that the remaining complaints will be settled within a month. Most of the petitions submitted were regarding the inadequate number of doctors and staff in the hospitals. Decisions on the complaints will be taken after holding high-level meetings.
The minister said that a sum of Rs 2 crore was allotted for the Homoeopathic Hospital at Kakkanad. “`50 lakh will be allotted to renovate the building of the district panchayat’s Homoeo hospital. Measures will also be initiated to start casualty wards in all Taluk hospitals which do not have them. Other fund allocation includes Muvattupuzha Homoeo hospital and Edavanakkadu Ayurveda dispensary which were given `35 lakh and `10 lakh respectively. Apart from that, a sum of `52 lakh was allotted from Anwar Sadat MLA’s fund for the renovation of Sreemoolam nagaram Ayurveda hospital,” he said. The honorarium for ASHA workers has also been increased.
“Discussions will be held with the Finance Department to increase the honorarium further,” he said. The minister added that measures will be initiated to renovate the Labour Ward at the Mattanchery Hospital using the Coastal Fund.
Excise Minister K Babu inaugurated the adalat and the Health Minister presided over the function. Mayor Tony Chammany, MLAs Hibi Eden, Dominic Presentation, V D Satheesan and T U Kuruvila, and Deputy Mayor B Bhadra, T K Devarajan, chairman, Marad municipality, T K Ashraf, Health Standing Committee chairman attended.