Chennai, Oct 6 (BPNS)
AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam have asked the Chief Minister, M.K.Stalin to intervene in the issue of Kovilpatti government hospital providing X-ray results of patients in paper instead of films. The hospital authorities had told patients that they are giving certificates on paper as the films are expensive and the hospital does not have funds for the same.
The AIADMK leader urged the Chief Minister to provide sufficient films to take X-rays and also to sanction the requisite funds for procuring films if the government was not providing the same.
The former Chief Minister in a statement on Wednesday said that he had earlier raised the issue of the government cutting short the funding for various welfare measures and that this incident has proved that he was correct.
O.Panneerselvam said that the previous AIADMK government had allocated Rs 19240 crore for the Health and Family Welfare Department for 2021-22 and the present government of the DMK under M.K.Stalin had allocated only 18,933 crores for the Health and Family Welfare department while presenting the revised budget after it assumed office on May 7.
The former Chief Minister also said that incidents like X-rays being taken on paper instead of films due to lack of funds is a major shame to the state and called upon the Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin to rectify the same with immediate effect.
It may be noted that X-ray results on films cost Rs 50 per film and for paper, there is no extra cost. The medical superintendent of the Kovilpatti Government Hospital where the incident occurred while speaking to BPNS said, “The films were unavailable for the past few days due to issues on tendering of X-ray sheets and the few we had we used to give for medico-legal cases.”
However, doctors said that the X-rays could be viewed in digital format and is a scientific advancement that is much more useful than using films. The doctors also opined that for future reference the X-rays could be copied into CDs.
