Mamata aide slams own ministry

New Delhi, Sept. 2: Union minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi decried the slow pace of action in his own ministry holding up a plan to set up medical clinics and diagnostic services at sites offered by the railways.

The health ministry was to establish out-patient clinics and diagnostic centres at railway stations across the country and hospitals on railway land under an agreement between the health and railways ministries signed earlier this year.

But while the railways ministry had demarcated the land for this plan several months ago, Trivedi said, there has been very little progress towards implementing the proposals from within the health ministry.

“Nothing has moved. The railways has already demarcated and assigned the land — it was a huge, Herculean task. But what have we (the health ministry) done?” Trivedi said, speaking at the release of a report analysing India’s health sector.

“I’m not blaming or casting aspersions on individuals in the health ministry, but we need to change our present system of working,” Trivedi said later. “We need more accountability... and a reward-punishment system.”

He said the railways ministry provides an example of “efficiency” and “a regimental system” that worked 24 by 7. “Health is a special sector, and the health ministry also needs something similar — army precision and a system that works 24 by 7,” Trivedi said.

The railways-health ministry plan also envisaged about 40 new superspeciality hospitals across India, including 12 in Bengal, at the 20-acre sites offered by the railways. Each hospital will provide services in superspeciality areas such as cadiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and nephrology.

The process of establishing large hospitals is expected to take time, but out-patient clinics and medical diagnostic services at railway stations could be set up much faster, senior health ministry sources had indicated earlier this year.

But, Trivedi said, neither clinics nor diagnostic centres are up yet. The delay in this plan, he said, only reflects the inability of the existing bureaucratic system and procedures in the health ministry to meet the myriad health challenges that India faces.

“The health ministry is not just another administrative ministry. We need specialists — a special cadre of public health professionals with deep understanding of health issues — to work in the health ministry,” he said.

Health ministry sources indicated that at a meeting last week, Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had also emphasised the need for the ministry to accelerate activities related to the joint plan.

In Bengal, the railways have offered land for hospitals with associated medical colleges in Andal, Asansol, Dankuni, Haldia, Howrah, Kanchrapara, Kharagpur, Malda, New Farakka, New Jalpaiguri, Paglachandi, and Siliguri.


The Telegraph