Date:26/11/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/26/stories/2006112603080300.htm

Karnataka - Bellary

Bellary aurvedic college does not have power and water

Staff Correspondent

It was once reputed for its `panchakarma' treatment

Several vacancies in the college yet to be filled

BELLARY: The Government Taranath Ayurvedic College Hospital, one of the oldest in the State, stands testimony to utter neglect of the Government.

The college is among the three in the State after Mysore and

Bangalore run by the Government, and is famous for its

"panchakarma" treatment. It is bogged by several problems ranging from shortage of teaching and paramedical staff at the college to unhygienic conditions at the hospital. The students do not have facilities to learn and the patients are not provided with basic amenities.

A stench greets the visitors to the college hospital and unhygienic condition can been throughout the State. The toilets/bathrooms and the rooms where the "panchakarma" treatment is given are not tidy. Despite these shortcomings and lack of facilities, nearly 150 patients in and around the district come to the hospital as outpatients every day and this was mainly because of the good treatment provided here.

Left with no alternative, the students have, time and again, been resorting to boycott of classes and stage demonstration in front of the college to protest against lack of facilities and amenities at the college hospital. Even on Friday, they staged a demonstration. Their attempts seemed to have been like a "cry in the wilderness" as the authorities concerned appear to have turned a deaf ear to the problem. Of the 15 sanctioned posts, only four have been filled. Only four assistant professors as against the sanctioned vacancies of 16 are serving. The posts of Superintendent, First Division Assistant, Pharmacists, x-ray technician and librarian are vacant. On the hospital side, several posts, including that of Resident

Medical Officer, pharmacists, laboratory technician, ward "ayas" are vacant.

K. Vishwambar, principal of the college, blamed the Government for the present state of affairs here. "Within the available resources we have been trying to do our best. We have been writing letters to the Government to improve the facilities here."

Successive Ministers for Medical Education, including V.S. Acharya, visited the hospital and promised to improve the facilities. But the promises are yet to be kept.