The State government had to face embarrassing moments as senior Congress MLA B.R. Patil joined the Opposition in the Assembly on Wednesday in criticising the government over shifting out doctors from rural Community/Primary Health Centres with lower number of deliveries to urban centres.

The issue was raised in the House through a call attention notice by JD(S) member Sharada Poorya Naryak, who alleged that doctors from a rural Community Health Centre in her constituency had been shifted to urban centres on the grounds that the PHC had reported less than 30 deliveries a month. She argued that the rural Community Health Centre was now as good as being closed.

Intervening in the discussion, Leader of the Opposition R. Ashok said such a situation was not confined to Ms. Nayak’s constituency, as doctors had been shifted from rural Community/PHCs which had reported less than 30 deliveries a month to taluk-level hospitals. This, he said, was an attempt to make up for the shortage of doctors in urban areas through redeployment instead of making new recruitments, which had poor in rural areas hard. Mr. B. R. Patil surprised the ruling members by endorsing the Opposition on this issue.

Following widespread concern, Speaker U.T. Khader announced that he would allow a debate on the issue in the coming days.