Health Department is open to working closely with private hospitals: Health Minister

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said here on Monday that the government is open to working with private hospitals in providing quality treatment at affordable cost

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said here on Monday that the government is open to working with private hospitals in providing quality treatment at affordable cost.

Speaking at the formal inauguration of the joint replacement robotic unit of Yeneopoya Speciality Hospital, Kodialbail, here, Mr. Rao said there was no trust deficit for the government with private hospitals.

“There is no doubt (for the government with operations of private hospitals). (In fact) The government’s focus is a bit away and in variance with that of private hospitals. The government looks at providing treatment at affordable cost, while private hospitals look at qualitative care by using touching edge technology, which comes at a cost,” he said.

It is a challenge for the government to provide good treatment at the government health facilities, which are found wanting in terms of efficiency. He applauded private health facilities in Dakshina Kannada that are providing quality health care at affordable costs to people of the State and also those from Kerala.

Earlier, Chancellor of Yenepoya (Deemed to be University) Yenepoya Abdulla Kunhi said though private health facilities in Dakshina Kannada have been working closely with the government there are still doubts for the latter with former’s operations. “We need to trust each other,” he said.

Deepak K. Rai, the consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Yenepoya Speciality Hospital, claimed that the joint replacement robotic unit set up in the hospital is the first-of-its-kind set up outside Bengaluru.

This third generation Artificial Intelligence based unit will help in accurate placement of knee implants. Soft tissue injuries will be far less and it will give excellent results for gross knee deformities. Mr. Kunhi is among 25 patients who have successfully undergone knee surgeries at the new unit.