KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Taking a dig on SK Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Management for putting patients and attendants to trouble, State Health Minister Lal Singh Thursday said that he will “change the picture of this premier Institute once he will take over as the Vice-Chairman” of the Governing Board of SKIMS.
“I know everything what is happening in SKIMS. The present Director has created a mess there and he is feeling uneasy after he came to know about the government decision appointing me the Vice-Chairman of the Governing Board. Once I will be there I will show all how to run the affairs. There is no accountability in SKIMS and patients as well as attendants are being harassed in the name of security. Despite ban on private practice, the doctors posted in SKIMS indulge in ‘underground’ private practice. I will take all the erring doctors to task,” Singh told CNS.
Accusing incumbent Director SKIMS of “loot and mismanagement”, Health Minister Lal Singh said that he will not allow anyone to “loot the Jammu and Kashmir top medical institute”. “I have been receiving so many complaints from the patients and attendants, how doctors are treating them and scaring them inside the wards. A Hospital is meant for the patients and if we fail to mitigate the pain and sufferings of the patients then we have no right to operate there. A patient needs to be treated well and an attendant needs to be respected,” Singh said adding that people “will feel a sea change once he will take over as the Vice-Chairman” of the Governing Board of SKIMS.
Responding to a question, Lal Singh said that he will not be the “first Health Minister to take over as the Vice Chairman of the Governing Board”. “By autonomy, the Director SKIMS means that he should have final say and rest should obey him. We all know the present functioning of the institute and I can tell you with authority that patients especially attendants will stop complaining once I will take over as Vice Chairman SKIMS,” he said.
