Uttar Pradesh health minister Ahmad Hasan has said that the government will carry out sting operations in all government hospitals to check the status of medical facilities and health services. This is the first time that such a decision has been taken by a government against its own employees.
The minister said that the operations will also aim at curbing the private practice of government doctors in private hospitals. The state government has threatened to act tough against those doctors found missing at work.
This minister’s order comes weeks after ward boys and sweepers were found treating patients in government hospitals. The fourth class employees were caught on camera giving injections, putting stitches and dressing up wounds of patients in Bulandshahr and Ballia districts. The doctors were not present in these hospitals.
Meanwhile, the doctors in the Provincial Medical Services (PMS) cadre have strongly objected to the government decision.
“Instead of discussing these issues with us and removing the irritants, the government is working against our own interests. This will discourage doctors from joining the PMS and the existing cadre will also be forced to resign and opt for private practice. The government should first upgrade health services before blaming doctors for the problems in medical services,” said a senior PMS doctor.
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Lucknow airport to get ‘food street’
age correspondent
Lucknow, Oct. 8
The Choudhury Charan Singh airport in Lucknow, which was recently given the international status, will soon have a “food street”.
The food street, according to airport director Suresh Chandra Hota, will come up on a specially-designed elevated platform on the ground floor of the building. The typical L-shaped platform rises from close to the existing food court around the departure area. It begins with a six-foot-broad pathway, which widens into a space that will comprise a food court. Visitors may subsequently move to the other side and come out of the terminal from the arrival gate.
Strategically constructed at a height, the “food street” will not only allow the passengers to have a view of the pre-paid taxis lining up outside the terminal, but will also enable visitors to watch their friends and family till they board the airline bus that ferries the passengers to the aircraft.