Karnataka doctors ask central government to present clean sheet on Covid expenditure

February 3, 2021

Belagavi: A section of doctors in Karnataka are demanding a white paper on money spent by the central government in handling Covid.
The step comes after the proposal to increase health sector allocation by 137% in the union budget. There is no mention in the annual budget on Covid expenditure except for vaccination. The Union finance minister promised an outlay of Rs 35,000 crore for vaccination.
It is after all taxpayers’ money. Dr Venkatachalapathy M., president of Karnataka’s Indian Medical Association told the Times of India,
“A very upsetting element is that no allocation has been made to provide compensation to bereaved families of private healthcare professionals. The government must compensate health staff, who died in the line of duty.”
There is not a single word in the annual budget on small and medium hospitals which handle 80% of Karnataka’s patients, said Dr Madhusudana Kariganoor, former Karnataka IMA president. These hospitals are the ones most affected by Covid in terms of revenue.

He added, “There should be a different allocation for Covid workers. For example in Karnataka, of the 64 doctors who died due to the infection, families of four were given Rs 50 lakh compensation.”
The finance minister was keen on giving out details of spending on farmers, but why not on Covid, said Dr Srinivas Kakkilaya, general physician.
In the wake of five doctors in Chamarajanagar district testing positive for Covid 12 days after they got the first dose of a Covid vaccine, experts have moved to calm fears, insisting that it is ‘impossible’ for the vaccine to have been the cause of Covid.