The government said more than 450 posts under the reserved category were lying vacant in three top state-run hospitals in the national capital owing to various reasons.

“498 reserved posts are lying vacant in three Central government hospitals — Safdarjung hospital, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College and associated hospitals on account of death, retirement, resignation, non-availability of suitable candidates,” Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told the Lok Sabha in a written reply on Friday.

“Recruitment and filling up of these posts is a continuous process and vacancies are filled up through the recruiting agencies based on requirement and also taking into account the government’s reservation policy,” Azad said.

Govt to raise issue of pvt hospitals denying treatment to poor

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that leading private hospitals in the city were not providing treatment to the poor as per regulations and he will raise the issue with them.

Azad said his Ministry was aware that people, especially those from economically weaker sections, were facing problems in getting treatment at private hospitals.

“A large number of complaints are pouring in that the poor people are not being treated to the extent the private hospitals are supposed to treat them. So we know about this and we would like to have a meeting again with them on the issue,” the minister said.

Reacting to a television channel expose on leading private hospitals of Delhi purportedly violating rules by not providing treatment to the poor, Azad said he had knowledge of the issue.

The Delhi High Court on 23rd March, 2007 had directed all private hospitals to offer free treatment to poor patients at the rate of 10 per cent in the Indoor Patient Department and 25 per cent in the Outdoor Patient Department of their total respective treatment capacities.

The court had stated that private hospitals, which had been given land at a concession in Delhi, must not bill patients from families earning less than Rs 2,000 a month.

The Central Information Commission had also asked the Directorate of Health Services to disclose and upload details of patients being treated under the Economically Weaker Section category in private hospitals on their website on daily basis with effect from 1st October but there has been little progress on the issue.

Taking on the government on this issue, the BJP has demanded that a committee be formed to investigate the matter.

“A committee should be formed and this matter should be investigated. Why do people from Below Poverty Line category fail to get a bed in a big hospital and what should be done to ensure that they get the required treatment… this should be worked on”, senior BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

He said many “undeserving” people get beds in such hospital using their political clout and the poor are left out.

Polio cases drop to 40 from 741 last year

The country has reported more than 90 per cent decline in number of polio cases this year, Government said.

Till 3rd December, there have been 40 cases of polio this year as compared to 741 last year, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

“India has reported more than 90 per cent decline in polio cases in 2010 as compared to 2009 and is rapidly moving towards the target of achieving polio eradication in the near future…the number of affected districts has declined to 17 so far in 2010 from 56 in 2009 and 90 in 2008,” he said.

In a separate reply, the Minister said the International Vaccine Centre (IVAC) report indicates that there are 15 countries accounting for 75 per cent pneumonia globally and among them India is having the highest number of pneumonia disease burden.