MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday issued notice to the state government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed to provide basic infrastructure and diagnostic facilities in Karambakkudi government hospital in Pudukkottai.
The litigant, S Shanmugam, who is the district organiser of ‘Periyar Ambedkar Makkal Kalagam’ of Pudukkottai, said in his petition that the government hospital at Karambakkudi taluk was established in 1971 as a Primary Health Centre (PHC) and was upgraded to taluk level hospital in 2015. But the hospital lacks drinking water, toilets, and other basic amenities, he alleged.
There is no wheelchair, ambulance service, or night shift doctors for emergency needs, he further claimed, adding that he had to shift his nephew, who was suffering from high fever, from the Karambakkudi hospital to the Government Medical College Hospital in Pudukkottai, which is situated 60 km away, in a two-wheeler last month as the Karambakkudi hospital did not provide proper treatment or ambulance facility. The child was later diagnosed with dengue fever, he added.
He requested the court to direct the government to provide diagnostic equipment such as X-Ray, CT Scan, and blood bank facilities and a sufficient number of qualified doctors, nurses, and lab technicians to the hospital. A Bench of Justices R Subramanian and L Victoria Gowri issued notice to the authorities concerned and adjourned the case for a month.