Karwar: The district incharge and Minister of Fisheries, Ports & Inland Transport, Mankal Vaidya, directed the Director of Karwar Institute of Medical Sciences (KRIMS) to submit a detailed proposal outlining the necessary facilities for upgrading the hospital to a super specialty hospital.

During a meeting held at the Deputy Commissioner’s office hall, Vaidya reviewed the progress of various departments and highlighted the demand for a super specialty hospital. He emphasized that during their previous tenure, they successfully secured the establishment of a medical college, a fact often overlooked.

MLA Satish Sail acknowledged that KRIMS already possesses several facilities and suggested providing a list of requirements to facilitate the hospital's upgrade to a super specialty hospital.

In response, KRIMS Director Gajanan Nayak stated that the hospital requires an MRI scanning machine, a cath lab, an additional hundred beds, seven specialist doctors, and a dedicated operating theater for neurosurgery.

Understanding the needs, the minister requested that the KRIMS director submit a proposal accompanied by a detailed project report.

Concerning disaster management, Vaidya urged officials to proactively identify areas prone to landslides and coastal erosion to implement precautionary measures ahead of time. He stressed the importance of being proactive rather than engaging in rescue operations after the rain intensifies.

Observing the delay in providing connections to irrigation pump (IP) sets in Bhatkal and Honnavar, despite the applications being submitted two years ago, Vaidya warned officials that their inefficiency and lack of assistance to the needy could result in their transfer.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the IRB company for collecting tolls before completing the national highway from Majali to Kundapura, Minister Mankal Vaidya emphasized that if the work is not completed, toll collection must be halted.

Vaidya also expressed annoyance with senior officials sending junior engineers to the meeting, warning that the completion of the work is imperative, or toll collection will be discontinued.

Minister Mankal Vaidya and MLA Satish Sail expressed disappointment over Hescom's negligence in Uttara Kannada.

MLA Satish Sail strongly criticized Karwar Hescom's Executive Engineer, Roshani Pednekar, for failing to provide adequate information about the staff.

"Officers must promptly address people's problems and complaints," Vaidya emphasized, warning that officers uninterested in their work would be relocated to other districts.

Minister Mankal Vaidya instructed the Deputy Commissioner to compile a list of officers who have held the same post or remained in the same location in the district for more than five years. He further cautioned that apathetic officers who neglect people's complaints may be transferred to another district.

Present at the meeting were Deputy Commissioner Prabhulinga Kavalikatti, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Iswar Kandoo, and Superintendent of Police N Vishnuvardhana.