Mangalore: The members of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Wednesday carried out a protest march demanding uniformity in the rates of treatment and a government regulation on the health services. The protest march was part of the state-wide agitation carried out by the DYFI.
Addressing the protesters, President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations Narendra Nayak said if Kasturba Medical College (KMC) has grown tall today, the credit goes to Wenlock Hospital. KMC has used the resources of Wenlock hospital since so many years, but sadly the condition of the government hospital stands poor,” he said.
Nayak said, “it has always been a strategy of the government to run a public institution poorly and defunct, and later hand over the private players stating it was running on lose. This is what the Congress and the BJP has been doing. Today, most of the sectors are handed over to the public, and few sectors remain in the government,” he lamented.
DYFI State President Muneer Katipalla said affordable healthcare was among the fundamental rights of people along with right to water and education. The government cannot privatize healthcare which will make it ill-affordable for people. Besides, the government should regulate operations in government and private hospitals to make healthcare affordable to people, he said.
He criticized the state government for showing lack of interest in establishing a medical college in the city. He said, “The state government has permitted Kanachur Academy to start a medical college, without the minimum requirement of having a hospital, while a decade old Wenlock Hospital, does not get such permission.”
He said the lobby by private medical colleges is stopping the state government to start a government medical college in the city, he added.
He said, the health minister is excusing of not having required 20 acres of land to start a medical college, but the same government can avail 1,800 acres of land for Special Economy Zone (SEZ). It shows the stand of the government. It’s not pro-poor but for the powerful, he rued.
The DYFI activists marched from Unity Hospital to the office of Deputy Commissioner where they raised slogans against the State Government and Health Minister U.T. Khader.
