The four-member committee instituted by the government to look into the systemic issues raised by the Head of Urology department at the Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), which had led to the postponement of surgical procedures in the department, has suggested that the procedures for institutional local purchase of equipment/accessories of machines may be simplified so that the procurement is not delayed, it is learnt.
The report was submitted by the committee, led by B. Padmakumar, Principal of Alappuzha Medical College, to the DME-in-charge, K.V. Viswanathan, on Wednesday evening.
Dr. Viswanathan said that the report could not be submitted to Health Minister Veena George on Thursday as she had been attending the zonal review meeting of the government at Kottayam in the morning, after which she was busy handling the crisis at the Kottayam MCH following a building collapse.
The report was apparently a “mixed bag”, with the committee pointing out that while some of the issues that led to the face-off involving Urology HoD Haris Chirackal could have been prevented, there were many aspects relating to the purchase processes in MCHs which could be improved.
‘Doctor violates rules’
The committee has, however, pointed out that by going public with his grievances and his commentary on the bureaucracy Dr. Chirackal violated provisions of the Kerala Service Rules which prohibits government servants from publicly discussing or criticising the policies or actions of the government.
The committee had taken statements from other heads of departments too on the manner of equipment/accessories purchase, process delays they encountered, and how the systemic issues were affecting patient care and service delivery. It had also gone through the purchase files at the Thiruvananthapuram MCH over the past one year.
Faculty members who gave their statements before the committee had spoken about how the government’s failure to reimburse public hospitals for free treatment provided under Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhati was impoverishing the hospital development committees that were responsible for enabling the free treatment under KASP.
More wear and tear
Also, because of the huge demand on the diagnostic and interventional procedures offered by the superspecialty departments in the hospital, machines were often run round-the-clock. This led to increased wear and tear and frequent requirement for the purchase of accessories.
The committee is thus learnt to have recommended smoothening out several purchase process hurdles so that service delivery was never affected. The report is likely to be submitted to the Health Minister on Friday.
Published – July 03, 2025 09:06 pm IST
