Orphanages for destitutes in govt hospitals mooted

The state government is planning to set up orphanages to take care of destitute patients admitted to government district hospitals, District In-charge Secretary Maheshwar Rao said on Friday.

He was addressing a meeting of district-level officers held at DC Office. He said that in order to overcome shortage of beds in district hospital, as many patients admitted are destitutes, the government had decided to open orphanages under Women and Child Welfare department.

He was responding to an issue raised by the District Surgeon Dr Madhusudhan Rao. Deputy Commissioner G Jagadeesha has also promised to release funds in this regard.

Responding to DC’s request to upgrade the government hospital in Udupi to a district-level hospital, Rao said that the issue of upgrading the taluk-level hospital to district level should be initiated at government level.

He said the departments concerned should launch awareness programmes in schools and colleges on the communicable disease like dengue and malaria. The health department should initiate measures to curb the increasing number of communicable disease in the district.

The district-level officers should visit anganawadis once a week and look into their functioning, hygienic conditions and food quality, Rao added.

He instructed the District Women and Child Welfare department to pay attention to pregnant mothers, mothers and infants in order to ensure that they do not suffer from malnutrition.

Rao said that he would talk with officials from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on the delay in constructing a flyover at Shastri Circle in Kundapur and underpass at Koteshwar.

FASTag is mandatory at all the tolls plazas from December 1 and should be implemented effectively, he added.

He directed the deputy commissioner to put an end to illegal light fishing.

Rao said that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) can be used to introduce integrated farming methods in 50 villages.