Karnataka mulls kidney dialysis units in all districts

Karnataka government intends to open superspeciality hospitals in all revenue divisions of the state and kidney dialysis units in every district hospital, Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil said today.
"We want to start superspeciality hospitals in each division (Mysore, Gulbarga and Belgaum)", he told reporters here. "We are going to make it mandatory for all district hospitals to have dialysis units".
He said peripheral cancer treatment centre in Gulbarga would be convered into a full-fledged one in two phases and it would cater to patients of Hyderabad-Karnataka region.
"Thinking in the government is to open cancer centres in all divisions", the Minister said.

The government has decided to reopen the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, better known as OPEC hospital as it was established with aid from Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The hospital was opened by Congress President Sonia Gandhi in 2000 and handed over to Apollo Hospitals for management under government supervision a year later. The MoU between the Government and Apollo expired last year and the hospital is shut for the past 13 months.
"We want to start it on our own (will be run by Government)", Patil said. The government has approved calling for tenders to refurbish the hospital at an estimated cost of around Rs 1.2 crore.

"If I don't get superspecialists, then I will look for other options. We don't want to keep it closed", he said, adding, the government is keen to operate it as cost is involoved if private party is involved.