Karnataka government’s largest cardiac care facility Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology (SJIC) has closed one of its six major operation theatres due to an unprecedented shortage of surgical instruments and drugs.

The critical drug suppliers short-listed on rate contract basis (names withheld) have refused to supply the drugs, while doctors, surgeons, and nurses do not even have gloves, syringes, needles and other basic surgical instruments.

The main reason for the delay in the releasing the funds by the Karnataka government is because the government was not sure if the hospital was to come under the Transparency Act. The government owed nearly Rs.7 crore, said Dr. AB Maalakaraddy, minister for medical education. He has convened a meeting on July 28, 2003 to sort out the issue. He appreciated the fact that the drug suppliers have made all efforts to provide the drugs on their own expense.

Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna denied that the operation theatre in SJIC had stopped functioning. The claims on the closure could be false but it has helped the government in getting a correct picture about the hospital and the corrective measures needed to improve it. The Chief Minister has assured the Legislative Council that all efforts will be made to improve the functioning of the state-run super speciality cardiac hospital.

The Opposition members in the Legislative Assembly alleged that operation theatre had closed down and the hospital lacked the necessary equipment and even basic facilities for which the patients had to seek outside help. But the medical education minister said it was not correct as on an average two operations are being conducted every day.

He also stated that the heart operations done are not totally free and some financial crunch was there as the surgeries are expensive and the hospital has to generate its own funds to meet the expenditure as the government cannot give all aid.

The medical education minister stressed the need for increasing the budgetary allocation for health. "While health accounts for only 0.9 per cent of the National budget, in Sri Lanka it accounts for nine per cent of the total budget", he said.

According to reliable sources, early this week, the hospital surgeons were able to attend to only 6 emergencies as against the usual 30-40 cases. As many as 100 patients have been turned away in the last fortnight following the closure of the operation theatre.

Around 40 drug dealers have stopped supplying drugs to the hospital in the last three months, following a delay in the government clearance of the bills.

It is learnt that the drug suppliers on rate contract are supplying imported drugs from United Kingdom and the US and demand a down payment of 80 per cent and despite making efforts to continue the supply they have now withdrawn because there was no money.

In the last one month, the hospital is purchasing on minimum drugs on a weekly basis. “As a government hospital we have to function within a limited budget,” said Dr. A N Prabhudeva, director SJIC. Doctors of the hospital are upset about not being able to treat the patients without the inflow of drugs.

According to reliable sources (who wished to be anonymous), there has been a lot of mismanagement of funds to the tune of Rs. 56 crore during the construction of the new premises, which resulted in the inordinate delay of the new premises.

The misuse of money has taken place at several stages – construction, purchase of medicines and equipment, sources pointed out. The Rs. 44 crore building does not appear like a state of the art facility as most of the amount has gone in for the purchase of equipment. The total allocation by the state government to set up the facility was Rs.100 crore. But the 530-bed hospital was set up at a total cost of Rs. 44 crore.

The Karnataka government takes care of the salaries of the staff which amount to Rs. 3.5 crore annually. All other expenditure is met by the revenues, which is around Rs. 13 crore generated from the medical treatment.

With a view to generating more revenue, the institute has introduced smart card facilities in which an individual can deposit Rs. 10,000 and avail of a free check up once a year for the rest of his life. There is also an executive card in which one can deposit Rs. 25,000 ad can avail of several facilities for life. The family card offers medical facilities for two for Rs. 50,000.