Bengaluru, February 19 Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R Ashoka, on Thursday alleged that the state’s public healthcare system was "crumbling" under the Congress government, following protests by patients and their relatives at the Kolar district hospital after critical diagnostic services like CT and MRI were halted.
Family members said they were forced to run around for the past three days seeking treatment.
A similar situation prevailed at the Yadgir district hospital.
A woman at the Kolar district hospital, who participated in the protest, told reporters that her husband was suffering from severe swelling on his face and the authorities were refusing to provide a scan.
"Today, they are demanding Rs 4,000 for a scan. Where should poor people go? Are they meant to die without treatment?" she asked.
Ashoka shared on his 'X' handle a letter written by Krsnaa Diagnostics Limited to the National Health Mission, Karnataka, seeking the release of pending dues and warning of temporary suspension of CT and MRI services from February 18 in case of non-payment.
"The public healthcare system in Karnataka is crumbling under the Congress government," Ashoka said in his post.
First, there were reports of medicine shortages in government hospitals. Now, the Congress government has failed to clear Rs 143.78 Crores in dues to CT & MRI service providers, pending for the last three years, he alleged.
"Rs 143.78 Crores unpaid. Three years of delay. Repeated representations ignored. This is not a minor administrative lapse. This is financial paralysis in the Health Department."
According to Ashoka, essential diagnostic services across Karnataka are under threat. If CT & MRI services are disrupted, it is the poor and middle-class patients who will suffer - accident victims, cancer patients, stroke cases, and pregnant women requiring urgent scans.
"What exactly is Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao doing?" he asked.
A Health Department that cannot clear Rs 143.78 crores in legitimate dues for three years cannot claim to care about public health, he said.
The BJP leader demanded that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah answer why Rs 143.78 crores were not released, why contractual obligations were ignored for three years, and why the Health Department is pushing life-saving services to the brink.
"If the Health Minister cannot ensure timely payments for essential services, he has no moral authority to continue in office. CM Siddaramaiah must take responsibility and immediately sack Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao from the Cabinet," Ashoka added.
In its letter dated February 15 to the Mission Director, National Health Mission, Karnataka, the Pune-based diagnostics firm said that despite repeated communications over five years and 95 written representations in the last three years, its “rightful dues amounting to approx. 143.78 Crores” remained unpaid.
“Due to the non-release of our rightful dues, the situation has now reached a point where the Company's financial capacity to continue operations has been entirely exhausted,” the company said.
It sought an interim payment of a minimum Rs 50 crore within February 17, to stabilise its operations.
"Failing such release on or before February 17, we shall be left with no alternative but to temporarily suspend all CT and MRI diagnostic services across the State of Karnataka with effect from February 18, until the outstanding dues are cleared," the letter stated.
The company also said, “This is not a decision of choice, it is a decision forced upon us by continued inaction and non-payment.”