Express impact: Karnataka HC initiates proceedings on report highlighting shortage of 16,500 medical personnel
BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of the report titled "Karnataka short of 16,500 medical personnel: Report" published in The New Indian Express on October 16.
The division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit took cognisance of the TNIE report.
Referring to the report released by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in September, the TNIE highlighted that the state suffers from a shortfall of around 16,500 employees.
Along with medical personnel, the report highlighted a shortage of PHCs across Karnataka with 454 centres (245 urban and 209 rural centres) in deficit. It has also given the data of a shortfall of 723 MBBS doctors, 7,492 nurses, 1,517 lab technicians, 1,512 pharmacists, 1,752 assistants and 3,253 Group D employees.
Bengaluru Urban, Belagavi, Mysuru, Tumakuru, Hassan and Mandya contribute to 39.1 per cent of the nursing personnel shortage.
Referring to the data, the court said that other statements in the story show that this issue needs immediate attention, as it is certainly an issue of larger public interest. Accordingly, this news item is taken cognisance of, the court said.
The court appointed advocate Sridhar Prabhu to assist the court as amicus curiae and file the formal petition before the court within two weeks.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) report released in September is a joint initiative with the state government.