Cine stars too join campaign for state-of-the-art hospital

Mysuru: Following a social media campaign over the demand for an Emergency Hospital, Mysuru-Kodagu MP-elect Pratap Simha said that he would make efforts to bring a super-speciality hospital to Kodagu.

In a tweet, he said that he would be meeting Dr. C.N. Manjunath, Director of the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research to put up a cardiac unit in Madikeri District Hospital. Simha added that he would give Rs.5 crore from his Member of Parliament Local Area Development Fund over a period of two years for that.

Also, at a ‘Meet the Press’ programme at Press Club in Madikeri on Friday, the MP-elect said that many people lose their lives owing to excessive bleeding during road accidents in Kodagu. There is a need for a super-speciality hospital in order to provide a timely response for patients.

He further stated that he would hold elaborate discussions with experts in this regard and will do all possible efforts to bring a super-speciality hospital to Kodagu, with private-public                                     partnership model.

Inspired by residents of Uttara Kannada who ran a Twitter campaign recently seeking a super-speciality hospital in their districts, people from Kodagu have started a similar drive seeking emergency healthcare services in the district.

#WeNeedEmergencyHospitalInKodagu trended on Twitter. In most of the tweets, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Pratap Simha have been tagged. The CM has not reacted to the demand yet, unlike previously, when a similar demand was made for Uttara Kannada.

The tourist hotspot of Kodagu is a hilly district in the lap of Western Ghats and covers an area of 4,102 sq km. Even today, however, the district does not have a major hospital.

The residents have been forced to travel more than a hundred kilometres, either to Mangaluru or Mysuru, to avail benefits of advanced medicine, even in case of an emergency.

Many Kodagu residents and supporters of the cause pointed out the historical neglect faced by the district, in spite of it being the origin of River Cauvery and many stated that many athletes and soldiers hail from there. The demand for such a medical facility has been long pending but successive governments have not taken any steps in this direction.

Several of the actors from Kodagu origin too have retweeted the message. Actors from Sandalwood including Ravichandran, Shiva Rajkumar, Harshika Poonacha, Disha Poovaiah and Bhuvan Ponnanna have not only batted for the state-of-the-art hospital in Kodagu but also posted a video on their timeline, requesting the people to support the twitter campaign.

Actor Harshika said, “I 100% support the tweet campaign. When my father fell ill, he could not be treated at the hospital in Kodagu and had to be shifted to a hospital in Bengaluru. Nobody should go through such a situation. All must join hands together in awakening the state government.”

Another actor Disha Poovaiah said, “People of Kodagu are short of many facilities. They are compelled to move to outer districts for education and job too. The people here at least deserve a super-speciality hospital.” Actor Bhuvan said that a super-speciality hospital for Kodagu is the need of the hour. This will benefit the people of Kodagu as well as the tourists.