RTI reveals health department assurances not fulfilled even after 10 months
31 Aug, 2013
The Health and Family Welfare Department of Karnataka had claimed in its reply to the Karnataka Legal Services Authority that the department and the AYUSH had identified the victims of the endosulfan poisoning and had done proper medical screening.
However, the reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from the office of the commissioner of health and family welfare revealed that the general and executive committees are yet to approve the list of victims. The reply to the application also shows that no smart cards for free medical care have been given to any of the 1,907 victims, identified in 92 villages of the Dakshina Kannada district as claimed by the department.
The department had assured the provision of ambulance to take immobile victims to nearest health care centres, mobile medical unit and provision to put each village under a staff nurse so that home-based palliative care could be given to victims. However, the RTI applicant, himself a victim of endosulfan poisoning, said that even after 10 months of the assurance given by the department nothing has been done. The applicant also demanded that experts from their region be included in the committees.
Responding to the allegations, the Endosulfan Virodhi Horatha Samiti is deciding on filing a contempt case against the state health department for giving false assurances.