By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Following the exposure in TCN of the grave discrimination in fund allocation to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College of Aligarh Muslim University, Members of Parliament raised the issue in Rajya Sabha. They sought intervention of the government to raise the annual fund to the hospital which is visited by 4 to 5 lakh people every year.
Raising the issue in Zero Hour on 22nd May 2012, Mohammad Adeeb, Member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh said that JNMC has 1200 beds but it gets only Rs 2 crore per year while Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi gets Rs 350 crore though it has only 600 beds. He also said that Safdarjang Hospital which also has 1200 beds but get Rs 550 crore.
Adeeb said about 4.5 to 5 lakh people visit the AMU hospital every year while 35000-40000 are admitted and 15000 operations are performed. The hospital caters to the need of 12 districts of Western Uttar Pradesh while the Eastern Uttar Pradesh is covered by the hospital at Banaras Hindu University. Interestingly both come under University Grants Commission and are not given a penny by Health Ministry.
Adeeb said the ministry is not spending a rupee on these hospitals which are catering to the needs of poor people. Moreover, since 2005, JNMC of AMU has got same annual budget – Rs 2 crore and 10 lakh while hundreds of beds have been increased in these years.
“I request you through this House to take urgent step. I request you to direct health ministry and education ministry to provide funds to the hospitals made for the poor,” said Adeeb. As he sat down, a number of MPs stood up in support of the demand.
Ramvilas Paswan, chief of Lok Janshakti Party stood up and said: “This is a very serious issue. You give Rs 400 cr at one place and nothing at other.”
MPs who supported the issue included Kumar Deepak Das, Assam, Devender Goud T., Andhra Pradesh, D. Raja, Tamil Nadu, SP Singh Baghel, Uttar Pradesh, Kaptan Singh Solanki, Madhya Pradesh and Ram Kirpal Yadav, Bihar.
TCN on 17th May had published a story which, with facts and figures procured through RTI by Quality Governance Foundation of India, exposed the plight of JNMC and the discriminatory attitude of the central government.
Related Story:
http://twocircles.net/2012may17/jnmc_amu_victim_shameful_discrimination_central_govt.html