Karnataka Govt to ensure Doctor's safety says Health Minister K Sudhakar

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Government is dedicated to ensuring the safety of the doctors, Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar assured the students at Bengaluru Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI)

"The Karnataka government is committed to ensuring the safety of doctors. Strict measures have been taken against those who abuse or assault doctors as a result of which the number of such incidents has significantly reduced in the recent years and awareness regarding the same is increasing," Sudhakar said while interacting with medical students at BMCRI.

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The interaction was held under the banner name of 'Yuva Samvada' which means 'Interaction with Youth'.

Sudhakar met and had an open interaction with the students to understand their aspirations and concerns. He also made the faculty except for the college's Dean to leave the auditorium so that the students could talk comfortably with him.

According to an official statement, the state Medical Education Minister further assured the students that their concerns will be taken care of with all the measures.

When asked about the attacks on doctors by a student, the Minister said, "He, as the minister, has taken a lot of measures to prevent attacks on doctors. The issue is that some families feel that the doctors are responsible for the patient's death, while the truth is that each doctor tries his best to save the patient."

"The law allows very strict actions against the ones who assault doctors and the government has also ensured that stringent action against these people like the attacker can be jailed for years and a fine can also be levied upon the person in question," he added.

Sudhakar further said that in order to curb such behaviour of the people, the punishments offered to them must be publicised on social media. The government will always stand by the doctors, he said.

He also praised this batch of health workers for handling the "massive health crisis" during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Mentioning that medical tourism (people travelling abroad for medical treatment) is growing in India, Sudhakar stated, "Earlier, there was one doctor for 2,300 people but now the number has improved to one doctor for 900 people. If we include the doctors of Ayush as well, the number will stand at one doctor for 700 people. We have a population of 130 crores and hence there is a need for many more medical colleges."

He also said that the government has been constructing medical colleges through the public-private partnership (PPP) model to reduce the financial burden as each college costs Rs 750 crore.

"Till now, nine districts in Karnataka still lack medical colleges. We are trying to inaugurate them in Davanagere, Udupi, Kolar and Bengaluru Rural districts. However, there won't be a decline in job opportunities in the medical field like engineering. More and more opportunities are coming up for doctors now. The doctors will never face unemployment," the Minister said.

"All laws are formulated by the representatives elected by the people. If educated people who are willing to serve society don't come to politics it will cause huge problems," he said while citing the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he was once a tea seller who rose up to this level.

"This is the beauty of democracy. More youngsters need to enter politics to create a better society," he added.

Sudhakar also underscored that they (the Karnataka government) have increased the stipend of medical professionals by 30 to 60 per cent despite the revenue crunch during the pandemic.

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