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. I have personally inspected many hospitals, listened to the poor and I believe that no patient will leave the hospital premises unhappy. We will treat them as god, give them free treatment and make better arrangements for the family members who come to the hospitals with the patients." On being reminded about a letter written by him to his additional chief secretary (ACS) recently on the non-compliance of the transfer policy in the transfers of the current session, he said "violations of law will not be allowed". The minister clarified that "it was not a letter, but our official noting".Pathak had written the letter to the ACS, Medical and Health on July 4, questioning the transfers in the health department and saying "the transfer policy has not been fully implemented in the postings in the current session". The letter, in which the minister had asked the ACS to provide complete details explaining the reason for the lapse, had gone viral on social media.Subsequently, Chief Minister Adityanath formed a committee led by the chief secretary to probe the transfers in the health department.Pathak said if there is any disturbance in any of the departments, it will be fixed. "The administration may make errors and it is our responsibility to rectify those," he added.Representatives from an association of government doctors had met Pathak, alleging that two doctors who had died were also transferred by the department.Asked about it, the minister said all the irregularities are being rectified. "Irregularities and arbitrariness in the health department are not new," he said.As the law minister in the previous term of the BJP-led government, Pathak wrote a letter to the chief minister in April 2021, referring to the irregularities prevailing in the health department and the arbitrariness of officials during the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter had gone viral on social media.In the second term of the Adityanath government, Pathak was promoted as the deputy chief minister and given the charge of the health department.Talking about future plans, the minister said the basic structure of medical services will be strengthened and efforts will also be made in the area of preventive medicines.He urged people to wake up early, practise yoga, exercise and lead a controlled life."If anyone falls ill, we are committed to providing him the best treatment," the minister said. PTI AR CDN RC