‘Separating health, medical education to hit vaccine drive’

Bengaluru, Jan 22 : A miffed Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar on Friday said separating health and medical education departments would affect the vaccination drive in the state.
“Separating health and medical education ministries could weaken the state’s vaccination effort, as 60 per cent of district hospitals are under the latter and the remaining under the former,” Sudhakar told reporters a day after Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Thursday hived off both departments and allocated medical education to senior cabinet minister J.C. Madhuswamy.
Ironically, the Chief Minister merged both the departments in October 2020 and gave the health portfolio to Sudhakar, who has been a minister for medical education since he joined the government in February 2020, ostensibly, for better coordination of the fight against the raging Covid across the state.
B. Sriramulu, who was holding the health and family welfare portfolio, was made minister for Backward Classes Welfare, which was earlier with Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol.
Coincidentally, the Covid tally began to decline gradually since mid-October across the southern state under Sudhakar, a medical doctor by profession.
“If health and medical education departments are under a single command, the vaccination drive will be effective. I will prevail upon the Chief Minister not to separate the two ministries,” asserted Sudhakar.