Summary:
Lucknow, Jul 24 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak has said on an average, more than 1.5 lakh patients visit the government hospitals in the state every day and their records are prepared.
Pathak, who is in charge of the Department of Medical Education, Medical and Health and Family Welfare, also said he inquires about the well-being of 20 patients on a daily basis.
In an interview to PTI, he said, "Till now, no record of the patients coming to hospitals was kept in Uttar Pradesh.
But now, arrangements have been made so that the details of every patient -- their names, phone numbers, whether they got proper treatment -- are recorded.
"On an average, more than 1.5 lakh patients visit the government hospitals in the state every day and I cannot talk to everyone of them.
I talk to 20 patients of any 10 districts every day and inquire about their well-being." He asks the patients about the medicines they get from the hospitals and the behaviour of the doctors, the minister said, adding, "I am happy that almost all the patients are satisfied." Pathak has been visiting government hospitals since he took charge of the health department.
He was seen standing in a queue as a patient at a hospital, while at another hospital, the minister was seen sitting on the ground and talking to patients.
Pathak said earlier, patients used to come to Lucknow for dialysis because there was no such facility in every district but now, dialysis units have been installed in 63 districts and soon, all the 75 districts of the state will have those.
"All 75 districts will have medical colleges.
Currently, there are 14 districts that do not have medical colleges.
We are going to sign an MoU for building medical colleges in these districts on the PPP (public-private partnership) mode.
A tender has also been floated for this," he said.
Taking a jibe at the previous governments in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said there were only 13 medical colleges in the state in 2017 and the health system was in complete disarray, but now, work is being done on a daily basis to improve the scenario.
According to departmental sources, there are 3,650 primary health centres, 945 community health centres and 167 district hospitals in Uttar Pradesh.
Asked about his departmental achievements in the first 100 days of the Yogi Adityanath government"s second term, Pathak said, "My voice has reached the people.