The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday took a serious note of the shortage of doctors and medical staff in state-run hospitals and initiated public interest litigation on this matter on its own.
As the proceedings began, Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit, presiding over the bench, referred to a news report on October 16 regarding the shortage of 16,500 medical staff, including doctors, technicians, and various other personnel.
Subsequently, the Registrar of the high court was directed to register a public interest petition based on the news report and therefore place it before the Court.
Furthermore, the HC, pointing to the report, noted that there is a shortage of primary health centres in 454 rural areas.
The report also stated that there is a shortage of 723 MBBS doctors, 7,492 nurses, 1,517 lab technicians, 1,517 pharmacists, 1,752 attendants, and 3,253 Group D workers, constituting various categories of medical staff.
To assist the court in this matter, advocate Shreedhar Prabhu has been appointed as amicus curiae.
