Bengaluru: Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday mounted a sharp critique against the state Health and Family Welfare Department, asserting that the 'health department is sick'. Allegations of poor delivery of health services, stemming from critical shortages of medicines and doctors, were leveled in the Legislative Assembly.
The BJP's R. Ashoka quoted unnamed government doctors' associations, suggesting that patients are facing delays in receiving necessary medications. He further claimed a general dearth of both medicines and medical professionals in rural areas. The party, represented by Vijayendra, also pointed to protests by young people across several cities regarding delays in filling vacant government positions, specifically citing employment promises made by the current administration.
Further allegations from the BJP suggested that Jan Aushadhi Kendras, facilities offering subsidized medicines within government hospitals, were being shut down. The party framed this as an act of "political vendetta" that directly harms low-income patients.
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Responding to these criticisms, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah addressed a controversy surrounding an Urdu health advertisement. He dismissed the BJP's claims of "appeasement politics" as "hypocrisy", labeling the advertisement's usage of Urdu as "standard government procedure". ==Siddaramaiah questioned the rationale behind the BJP's protest and reportedly made remarks that were perceived as a personal attack on Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, referencing the language spoken in his home.>> This development escalated the debate, with the BJP's comments reportedly alluding to Rao's wife, Tabu Rao.<< Dinesh Gundu Rao himself countered, describing the allegations as the "height of self-deception" and stating his family does not speak Urdu at home. He emphasized his deep connection to the Kannada language.
In a separate but related point, the state government acknowledged a potential revision of the annual income limit for Priority Household (PHH) cards. This revision aims to refine the eligibility criteria for subsidized foodgrains under the National Food Security Act. The government informed the Assembly that several families deemed ineligible had managed to obtain these cards. The BJP, however, contended that many genuinely poor households, including auto and taxi drivers, had been denied these cards, implying a systemic failure in the distribution of essential resources.
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