<p>The State government plans to provide shelter for family members accompanying patients at district hospitals, but there is no clarity on who should pay to put this facility in place. </p>.<p>Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sreeramulu said he was undecided on whether the government should bear the cost, or use the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) grants, or get corporates, and nonprofits to fund it. </p>.<p>“Rarely does a patient gets admitted alone. A patient is always accompanied by a family member. Because our district hospitals do not have facilities for the family members to stay, they end up sleeping in the corridors. We want to build a shelter for them where they can sleep, and make food available for them late in the night,” Sreeramulu told reporters on Thursday, after formally inaugurating his Vidhana Soudha chamber. </p>.<p>Sreeramulu also said that dengue cases were on the rise in Bengaluru and Mysuru. “I have already issued directions for the officials to take the necessary measures,” he said.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">‘I have to study KPME Act’</p>.<p>The Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2017, which was passed by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government amid stiff resistance from medical practitioners, will have to be revisited, Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sreeramulu said.</p>.<p>“I’m aware of this law ever since I was the health minister 10 years ago. I am aware there are some loopholes, but I need to have a proper look at it,” he said, when asked how the KPME Act was being implemented. Amendments to the KPME Act, which the then health minister K R Ramesh Kumar anchored, were finally passed with some dilution after medical practitioners hit the streets against stringent provisions that were initially proposed. </p>.<p>---------------------------</p>
<p>The State government plans to provide shelter for family members accompanying patients at district hospitals, but there is no clarity on who should pay to put this facility in place. </p>.<p>Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sreeramulu said he was undecided on whether the government should bear the cost, or use the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) grants, or get corporates, and nonprofits to fund it. </p>.<p>“Rarely does a patient gets admitted alone. A patient is always accompanied by a family member. Because our district hospitals do not have facilities for the family members to stay, they end up sleeping in the corridors. We want to build a shelter for them where they can sleep, and make food available for them late in the night,” Sreeramulu told reporters on Thursday, after formally inaugurating his Vidhana Soudha chamber. </p>.<p>Sreeramulu also said that dengue cases were on the rise in Bengaluru and Mysuru. “I have already issued directions for the officials to take the necessary measures,” he said.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">‘I have to study KPME Act’</p>.<p>The Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2017, which was passed by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government amid stiff resistance from medical practitioners, will have to be revisited, Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sreeramulu said.</p>.<p>“I’m aware of this law ever since I was the health minister 10 years ago. I am aware there are some loopholes, but I need to have a proper look at it,” he said, when asked how the KPME Act was being implemented. Amendments to the KPME Act, which the then health minister K R Ramesh Kumar anchored, were finally passed with some dilution after medical practitioners hit the streets against stringent provisions that were initially proposed. </p>.<p>---------------------------</p>
